UCSB   LIBKAKY 


SKETCHES  OF  THE  LIVES 


FRANKLIN  PIERCE  AND  WM.  R.  KING, 


CANDIDATES    OP    THE 


DEMOCRATIC    REPUBLICAN    PARTY 


PRESIDENCY  AND  VICE  PRESIDENCY 


THE  UNITED    STATES. 


[The  Democratic  National  Convention  which  assembled  at  Baltimore  on  the  second  day 
of  June,  1852,  unanimously  nominated  General  Franklin  Pierce  as  the  democratic  caudi- 
-date  for  the  presidency  and  the  Hon.  William  R.  King  for  the  vice  presidency  of  the 
United  States.  Whatever  pertains  to  their  personal  and  political  history  has  become  a 
anatter  of  pervading  and  peculiar  interest. 

To  place  before  the  public,  without  eulogy  or  ornament,  the  leading  incidents  of  their 
lives,  the  National  Democratic  Executive  Committee  present  the  following  brief  and  authentic 
sketches. 

Their  high  honor,  unimpeachable  integrity,  eminent  statesmanship,  and  unsurpassed  fidelity 
in  the  varied  public  trusts  and  duties  assigned  to  them,  commend  them  to  the  generous 
confidence  and  support  of  all  who  desire  an  able  and  honest  administration  of  the  gov- 
ernment. ] 

FRANKLIN    PIERCE.      ' 

General  Pierce  is  the  sou  of  Benjamin  Pierce,  v/lio  Ibught  at  Banker 
Hill,  served  honorably  through  tlie  revolutionary  war,  was  a  member  of 
the  governor's  council,  high  sheritl'  of  his  county,  governor  of  New 
HampEhire  in  1S27  and  1829,  and  died  April  1,  ]  839,  aged  SI  years. 
He  possessed  great  force  of  character  and  knowledge  of  men,  v/as  a 
thorough  republican,  was  highly  res]iccted  by  all  parties,  and  exercised  a 
large  iiifluence  on  public  affairs.  On  the  conclusion  oi  the  revolutionary 
■war  he  i^etfJcd  in  HiUiborough,  which  then  was  almost  a  wildenioss. 


^ 


.'  riH'rMy^^-  0  6  J  I? 

He  married  twi<!e,  and  had  by  his  first  wife  cne  daughter,  the  widow 
General  John  McNeil,  and  by  his  second  wife  five  sons  and  three' 
daughters.  One  of  the  daughters  died  in  infancy,  and  the  other  tw 
died  ill  1837,  leaving  farnilies.  Of  the  sons  the  oldest,  Benjamin  K, 
was  a  gallant  officer  of  the  army,  Avho  distinguished  himself  in  tlP 
Florida  war ;  and  the  second,  also,  was  connected  M'ith  the  army,  ai^' 
attained  the  rank  of  brevet  colonel.  These  are  both  dead.  Anoth 
died  in  early  manhood.  The  remaining  sons  are  Col.  Henry  D.  Pierce, 
of  Hillsborough — a  flmr.cr  of  great  personal  worth  and  of  much  wealth, 
who  has  represented  his  town  in  the  legislature — and  the  subject  of  this 
memoir. 

Franklin  Pierce  was  born  in  Hillsborough,  November  23, 1804.  He 
was  sent  to  the  neighboring  schools  of  Hancock  and  F'rancestown — living 
in  the  latter  place  with  the  mother  of  the  late  Levi  Woodbury,  to  whom 
he  pays  a  grateful  tribute  for  the  salutary  influence  she  exercised  over  Uis 
early  boyhood.  His  academic  studies  v/ere  pursued  at  Exeter  academy. 
In  1820,  in  his  sixteenth  year,  he  entered  Bowdoin  College,  from  which 
he  graduated,  with  credit,  in  1824.  Dr.  Calvir.  E.  Stowe  was  one  of  his 
class.  His  agreeable  manners,  manly  beaiung,  social  turn  and  fine  talents, 
made  -him  a  general  favorite  ;  and  among  his  intimate  friends  were  Hon. 
James  Bell,  of  Maitchesler,  and  Dr.  Luther  V.  Eeli,  the  head  of  the 
McLean  Asylum,  of  .Somcrville,  Nathaniel  Hawthorn,  Jonathan  Cilley, 
and  James  Mason,  son  of  Jeremiah  Mason.  Three  years  were  subse- 
quently passed  in  preparatory  studies  in  the  offices  of  Hon.  Edmund 
Parker,  of  Amherst,  and  of  Hon.  Levi  Woodbury,  of  Portsmouth,  IN.  H., 
and  in  the  'aw  school  of  Judge  Samuel  He  we,  of  Northampton,  Massa- 
chusetts. The  productions  of  Mr.  Pierce  bear  witness  that  these  early 
and  priceless  advantages  for  thorough  culture  were  avcH  improved  ;  M'hile 
the  admiration  and  friendship  entertained  for  him  by  college  cotempo- 
rafies,  v.dio  subsequently  became  ornaments  of  their  profession,  was  Gut 
the  comniencement  of  that  favor  which  he  has  since  uniformly  attracted 
towards  aim. 

Mr.  Pierce  in  1827  opened  a  law  office  in  Hillsborough,  opposite  the 
residence  of  Governor  Pierce.  At  this  time  t'le  latter  enjoyed  a  wide  and 
just  pofularity  in  New  Hampshire,  and  lliis  year  he  was  elected  governor. 
'Pile  succeeding  year,  in  consequence  of  tlie  division  in  the  republican 
party  on  the  presidential  question — a  part  dc  I'tring  for  General  Jackson 
and  apart  for  Mr.  Adams— Governor  Pierce,  who  was  a  "  Jackson  man," 
T»ras  defeated.  The  fruits  of  this  anti-demccratic  victory  were  the  election, 
by  a  small  majority,  of  Jo'.ni  Bell  governor,  and  of  Hon.  Samuel  Bell 
United  Slates  senator.  The  next  year,  however.  Governor  Pierce  was 
re-elected.  It  was  in  the  midst  of  these  stirring  scenes  that  Mr.  Pierce 
commenced  the  practice  of  his  profession.  He  bad,  to  favor  his  advance- 
ment in  business  relations  and  in  political  life,  it  is  true,  the  wide  influ- 
ence of  his  father  ;  but  the  great  success  that  immediately  attended  him 
would  have  been  but  iransient,  had  he  not  manifested  ability,  industry, 
energy  and  fidelity.  These  won  for  hirn  a  reputation  as  wide  as  it  was 
solid.  , 

Mr.  Pierce  took  a  zealous  part  in  politics,  and  in  1829  he  was  elected 
representative  from  his  native  town,  and  again  the  three  successive  years. 
This  was  an  era  in  the  political  history  of  New  Hampshire.  It  was  ihe 
time  when  the  Granite  State  came  boldly  to  the  support  of  General  Jack- 


FRANKLIN  PIERCE. 


WILLIAM  K.  KING. 


son's  administration.  Benjamin  Pierce,  by  over  two  ihousand  majority, 
was  elected  (1829)  governor,  an  entire  congressional  delegation  in  favor 
of  Jackson's  administration  was  chosen,  and  a  legislature  was  returned 
having  a  handsome  democratic  majority.  The  votes  for  Speaker  in  the 
latter  indicate  the  strength  of  parties — Mr.  Thornton,  the  administration 
candidate,  receiving  123,  and  Mr.  Wilson,  opposition,  101.  The  nest 
year  (1830)  the  contest  became  still  more  animated  and  severe.  Mr. 
Harvey  was  the  democratic  candidate  and  General  Upham  the  whig  can- 
didate; and  such  v/as  the  success  of  the  democracy,  at  all  points,  that 
tlieir  candidate  received  four  thousand  votes  more  tlian  his  opponent. 
Qne  of  the  fruits  of  this  election  was  the  return,  of  Hon.  Isaac  Hill  to  the 
United  States  Senate. 

Mr.  Pierce  took  a  prominent  part  in  these  contests,  both  in  the  field 
and  in  the  legislature,  and  here  laid  the  foundation  of  his  political  influ- 
ence and  success.  The  questions  in  which  he  engaged  were  mostly 
local,  but  there  is  one  that  stands  out,  of  a  general  and  important  character. 
A  convention  of  democratic  republican  members  was  held  in  Concord, 
June  15,  1S30,  and  adopted  an  address  .and  resolutions  that  will  stand 
out  among  the  important  political  documents  of  the  time,  for  their  ability, 
clearness  and  soundness.  They  accurately  define  the  cliaracter  of  the 
constitution  ;  clearly  shoAV  how  the  lavish  system  of  appropriations  by  the 
general  government  lead  «' to  wide-spread,  general  corruption,  tending 
directly  to  the  consolidation  or  disunion  of  the  States,  the  destruction  of 
democratic  principles,  and  the  extitiction  of  liberty  ;"  and  they  thus 
early  endorsed  the  reuomination  of  General  Jackson  as  the  democratic 
candidate  for  the  next  presidential  term.  This  was  the  convention  that 
resolved  that  Hon.  Samuel  Bell,  then  senator,  had  ceased  to  represent  the 
sentiments  of  a  majority  of  his  constituents. 

The  New  Hampshire  democrats  the  succeeding  year  (1S3I)  nobly 
maintained  their  ground —the  election  resulting  in  tiie  full  success  of 
their  ticket  for  governor  and  Congress,  while  they  retained  their  majority 
in  tiie  legislature.  "The  American  system  of  Henry  Clay,"  say  the 
journals,  "•  is  dead  and  buried  in  the  State  of  New  Han)pshire."  It  was 
,  the  year  that  Mr.  Pierce  was  elected'  Spealcer  of  the  House,  which  cou-  . 
sisted  of  tt^ro  hundred  and  tv^/enty  members;  and  it  shows  the  estimatioa 
in  which  he  v/as  held,  that  he  received  155  votes  against  58  for  all  othere. 
He  was  also  elected  Speaker  in  lb'32.  lie  discharged  the  duties  of  this 
office  witii  great  tact  and  ability,  proving  himself  to  be  a  firni,  courteous, 
and  impartial  presiding  officer.  Thus,  in  five  years  he  attained  an  en- 
viable position  among  his  associates,  and  won  it,  not  by  uvidermining 
rivals,  or  by  adroiiuess  in  political  intrigue,  but  by  a  firm  adherence  to 
political  principle,^jloquence  in  debate,  unquestioned  capacity  for  public 
buT;incss,  unvaryiisg  courtesy,  and  the  exhibition  of  fenkness  and  man- 
liness of  character.  So  honorable  was  his  ambition,  that  while  he 
was  ranking  his  associates,  lie  retained  iheir  love  and  commanded  their 
respect. 

In  1833  Mr.  Pierce  was  promoted  to  a  wider  sphere  of  action,  being 
elected  a  member  of  Congress  from  his  district.  He  entered  on  this  field 
oi  duty  in  a  period  of  intense  poritical  excitement— indeed,  in  one  of  the 
htro  ages  of  the  American  deflflocracy.  The  United  States  Bank  was 
then  in  the  arena,  making  its  most  desperate  struggle  to  overcome  tire 
government  and  to  perpotua-'e  its  monopoly,  and  this  by  subsidizing  the 


4 

pres?,  and  not  uiifrequeutly  tampering  M'ith  tlie  integrity  of  public  men. 
In  opposition  to  sucli  corinption,  the  indomitable  Hero  of  New  Orleans 
was  giving  fresh  proofs  of  the  force  of  his  character  and  the  firmness  of 
his  patriotism.  In  these  trying  times,  when  not  a  few  faltered,  Mr. 
Pierce  proved  himself,  in  Congress,  one  of  the  most  able  and  reliable 
supporters  of  the  administration.  He  was  not  a  frequent  debater,  but 
rather  a  most  intelligent  working  member,  giving  prompt  attention  to  the 
business  in  hand;  still,  wlien  occa.sion  required  it,  he  was  ready  and 
willing  to  throw  himself  into  tlie  breach,  repel  the  attacks  that  were  made 
by  the  able  men  in  opposition,  and  boldly  defend  the  Old  Hero  in  those 
patriotic  and  soul-stirring  speeches  for  which  he  is  so  celebrated.  To  go 
over,  for  four  years,  his  votes,  and  recall  his  speeches,  would  be  only 
adducing  unnecessaiy  proof  that  he  gave  an  unfaltering  support  to  the 
policy  which  has  met  the  approving  voice  of  a  vast  majority  of  tlie  Ameri- 
can people.  So  true  was  he  to  the  democratic  cause,  and  so  agreeable 
was  he  in  his  personal  address,  that  the  President  became  warmly 
attached  to  him,  and  often  invited  him  to  his  fireside  and  hospitable 
board.  Mr.  Pierce  also  continued  to  make  warm  friends  among  his  asso- 
ciates in  Congress,  v/liile  he  steadily  advanced  in  the  respect  and  good 
will  of  the  citizens  bf  his  native  State.  He  entered  with  them  heart  and 
soul  into  their  local  political  contests,  and  the  longer  they  tried  him  the 
more  confidence  did  they  feel  in  the  purity  of  his  character  and  the  sound- 
ness of  his  principles. 

With  such  a  reputation,  Mr.  Pierce  was  elected  by  a  large  majority  of 
the  legislature  to  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  and  took  his  seat  at  tiie 
extra  session  summoned  to  convene  on  the  4th  of  March,  1S3T,  the  day 
of  the  inauguration  of  Martin  Van  Buren  as  President.    The  country  was 
then  experiencing  the  effects  of  a  severe  commercial  revulsion,  the  neces- 
sary consequence  of  an  extraordinary  inflation  of  credit,  and  a  wild  and 
wide  speculative  mania.     To  prevent  the  government,  in  future,  from 
unwisely  stimulating  trade  by  a  use  of  its  deposites  as  a  basis  of  dis- 
count, and  to  secure  it  from  again  ejqieriencing  losses  from  a  failure  of 
banks,  the  democratic  party  were  boldly  taking  ground  in  favor  of  sepa- 
rating the  moneys  of  the  govermnent  from  the  concerns  of  the  banks. 
'  'Thus,  the  same  journal  that  contains  the  accounts  of  the  extra  session  of« 
the  vScnate,  contained  letters  from  the  ex-President  at  the  Hermitage,  re- 
joicing "  that  the  democracy  are  uniting  upon  the  plan  of  separating  the 
government  from  corjwrations  of  all  kinds;"  and  the  New  Hampshire 
democracy,  ever  true  to  the  republican  cause,  ever  conservative  to  pre- 
serve the  good  of  our  polity,  and  ever  progressive  to  adopt  a  well-based* 
•experiment,  in  democratic  convention  promptly  put  fortli  a  voice  in  favor 
of  this  policy.     It  was  under  such  auspices  that  Mr.  Pierce,  after  having 
given  the  last  administration  so  constant  and  eflecUial  a  support,  took  his 
seat  in  the  Senate.     During  his  service  in  il,  the  array  of  brilliant  names 
that  graced  it,  such  as  had  nex'er  before  been  seen  and  will  not  soon  be 
seen  again,  made  it  indeed  an  illustrious  body.     Calhoun  and  Webster, 
Buchanan  and  Clay,  Woodbury  and   Choate,  Grundy  and  Crittenden, 
Wiiglit  and  Southard,  Walker  and  Preston,  Rives  and  Benton — to  say 
nothing  of  others — were  of  it;  and  the  encounters  on  questions  as  deep 
and  solemn  as  can  arise  under  the  constitiuion,  were  between  the  intel- 
lectual giants  of  (he  land.     To  serve  for  five  years  in  such  a  school  con- 
stitutes no.smaU  training  in  civil  affairs,  an'd  was  quite  enough  to  render 


a  mind  lilte  Mr.  Pierce's  familiar  witli  matters  of  government  in  all  their 
varied  and  wide  relationship. 

Mr.  Pierce  served  in  this  body  from  1837  to  1S42,  always  doing  his 
share  of  its  business,  and  at  times  bearing  a  distinguished  part  in  its  de- 
liberations, and  during  ihe  whole  period  he  gave  a  cordial  and  unshrink- 
ing support  to  democratic  measures.  It  is  not  necessary  to  go  over  his 
votes  in  this  body,  v^s  an  illustration,  however,  take  the  action  on  the 
independent  treasury  bill,  one  of  the  test  questions  of  the  day.  At  a  time 
when  others  faltered  as  to  one  of  the  most  important  and  salutary  meas- 
ures ever  adopted,  -which  daily  vindicates  its  soundness,  and  which  has 
the  approving  voice  of  the  country,  Mr.  Pierce's  voice  was  fearlessly 
raised  in  its  support,  and  .his  votes  were  uniformly  given  with  the  friends 
of  the  bill.  He  served,  among  other  committees,  on  the  judiciary,  on 
military  alfairs,  and  on  pensions;  and  though  he  did  not  occupy  the  door 
often,  yet  when  Ire  did  speaic  it  -wns  to  the  point,  evincing  thorough 
knowledge  of  his  subject,  cogent  reasoning,  and  rare  powers  of  debate. 

The  year  after  his  election  to  the  Senate,  (1838,)  Mr.  Pierce  changed 
his  residence  from  his  native  town  of  Hillsborough  to  Concord,  the  place 
where  he  now  resides.  In  doing  this  he  sundered  many  old  and  endear- 
ing ties,  and  his  friends  and  neiglibors  could  not  let  the  occasion  pass 
without  a  manilestation  of  the  respect  and  afl'ection  which  they  entertained 
for  him;  hence  they  invited  him  to  a  public  dinner.  Tiiis,  however,  Mr. 
Pierce  declined.  The  correspondence  on  this  occasion  speaks  for  itself. 
It  surely  was  no  unmeaning  compliment  that  could  call  forth  the  acknow- 
ledgment that  in  the  relation  of  a  citizen  he  had  been  to  them 'as  a  son 
and  a  brother: 

Hillsborough,  August  25,  1838. 

Sir:  The  democratic  republicans  of  Hillsborough  embrace  the  oppor- 
tunity your  short  stay  furnishes,  to  tender  to  you  an  invitation  to  partake 
with  them  of  a  public  dinner  at  sucli  time  as  may  be  most  convenient  to 
you,  before  you  take  your  leave  of  Hillsborough. 

In  discharging  the  duty  imposed  upon  them,  the  committee  beg  leave 
to  assure  you  that  the  tender  they  make  is  no  unmeaniiHg  compliment. 

Your  childhood  v\^as  with  them,  and  so  have  been  your  riper  years. 
Educated  in  their  midst,  one  of  themselves,  the  ties  that  have  so  long 
bound  you  to  them  cannot  be  easily  sundered;  and  it  would  be  doing 
violence  to  their  feelings  to  snlTer  the  present  occasion  to  pass  without  an 
opportunity  of  calling  up  those  recollections  that  will  ever  be  to  them  a 
source  of  the  highest  satisfaction. 

You  have  stood  by  them  at  all  times.  You  have  been  to  them  even  as 
a  son  and  a  brother.  Their  interests  have  been  your  interests,  their  feel- 
ings your  feelings.  And  it  is  with  the  sincerest  pleasure  that  they  offer 
you  this  testimonial,  however  small,  of  the  estimate  they  place  upon  your 
character,  public  and  private. 

The  committee  cannot  but  express  their  regret  at  the  necessity  which 
is  about  to  separate  you  from  the  republican  citizens  of  Hillsborough. 
Long  and  intimately  iiave  you  been  known  to  them;  and  wherever  you 
may  go,  they  beg  leave  to  assure  you  that  you  will  cany  with  you  their 
kindest  wishes  for  your  welfare. 

With  esteem  and  respect,  we  have  the  honor  to  be  yours,  vfcc, 

TIMOTHY   WYMAN,  &c. 

Hon.  Franklin  Fierce.        • 


6 
* 

Hillsborough,  September  15,  1S38. 

Gentlemen:  Your  letter  in  behalf  of  the  democratic  republicans  of 
Hillsborough,  inviting  me  to  partake  of  a  public  dinner  at  such  time  as 
might  suit  my  convenience,  was  duly  received. 

(Sincerely  desirous  of  exchanging  salutations  with  all  my  friends,  before 
those  relations  which  have  so  long  subsisted  between  us  should  be  sev- 
ered, I  have  delayed  giving  an  answer,  with  the  hope  that  my  other  en- 
gagements would  allow  me  this  pleasure.  In  this  expectation  I  am  sorry 
to  say  I  find  myself  disappointed.  I  have  received  too  many  substantial 
evidences  of  the  kind  regard  and  true  friendship  of  the  citizens  of  Hills- 
borough to  need  any  new  assurance  of  their  partiality;  and  yet  I  would 
not  disguise  the  fact  that  your  testimony  at  parting,  as  to  the  manner  in 
which  my  duties  in  public  and  private  life  have  been  discharged,  is  flat- 
tering to  my  feelings — especially  so,  as  coming  from  those  who  have 
known  me  longest  and  most  intimately. 

I  shall  leave  Hillsborough  with  no  ordinary  regret.  There  are  a  thousand 
reasons  why  it  cannot  be  otherwise.  I  have  hitherto  known  no  other  home. 
Here  have  been  passed  many  of  the  happiest  days  and  months  of  my 
]ife.  With  these  streams  and  mountains  are  associated  most  of  the  de- 
lightful recollections  of  buoyant  and  happy  boyhood;  and  in  my  early  in- 
tercourse with  the  generous,  independent,  and  intelligent  yeomanry  of 
Hillsborough,  I  became  attached  to  and  learned  how  highly  to  appreciate 
that  class  of  the  comnumily  which  constitutes  the  true  nobility  of  this 
countiy.  I  need  hardly  say  that  I  shall  never  cease  to  remember  my 
birth-plsice  with  pride  as  well  as  nffoction,  and  with  still  more  pride  shall 
I  recollect  the  steady,  unqualified,  and  generous  confidence  which  has 
been  reposed  in  me  by  its  inhabitants. 

With  unfeigned  regret,  gentlemen,  that  I  am  unable  to  accept  the  invi- 
tation you  have  communicated  in  such  kind  and  flattering  terms,  please 
to  accept  for  yourselves,  and  to  communicate  to  my  fellow-citizens  whose 
organs  you  are  on  this  occasion,  the  assurance  of  my  warm  thanks  and 
sincerest  interest  in  vv^hatevcr  relates  to  tlieir  prosperity  and  happiness, 
individually  and  collectively. 

1  am,  gentlemen,  with  the  highest  respect,  your  friend  and  obedient 
servant, 

FRANK.  PIERGE. 

Timothy  Wyman,  Esq. 

Mr.  Pierce's  course  in  Congress  had  (1840)  elicited  much  commenda- 
tion. Of  his  six-eclies  that  were  widely  circulated  was  one  on  revolu- 
tionary claims,  Y>rhic]i  was  pronounced  "a  masterly  analysis,"  sound  in 
its  principle  and  construction,  and  thorough  in  its  business  details.  His 
speech  on  the  Florida  war,  also,  was  commended  as  a  dignified  vindica- 
tion of  the  administration  against  the  party  assaults  that  had  been  made 
on  it.  "  New  Hampshire,"  said  the  Boston  Post,  (June  19,  ]  S40,)  "  has 
just  cause  of  pride  in  her  youthful  senator.  To  a  grace  and  modesty  of 
manner  which  always  attract  when  he  addresses  the  Senate,  he  has  added 
severe  application  to  business,  and  a  (borough  knowledge  of  his  subject 
in  all  its  relations;  and  hence  it  is,  though  one  of  the  youngest,  he  is 
one  of  the  most  influeniial  in  the  distinguished  body  of  which  he  is  a 
member.  Without  seeking  popularity  as  a  debater,  Mr.  Pierce,  in  the 
quiet  and  untiring  pursuit  of  public  duty,  ind  the  conscientious  dis- 


charge  of  private  responsibility,  has  acquired  a  permanent  reputation, 
which  places  him  among  the  most  useful  and  efficient  public  men  in  tlie 
country.     Long  may  he  enjoy  it." 

In  1810  the  presidential  contest  occurred  that  resulted  in  the  election  of 
General  Harrison  as  President.  General  Pierce  engaged  in  this  struggle 
with  his  characteristic  zeal  and  energy;  and  his  services  were  much 
sought  for,  and  were  freely  given.  Though  others  of  the  sons  of  the 
Granite  State,  and  its  press,  were  equally  zea'oiis,  yet  it  was  owing  much 
to  his  large  personal  influence  that  the  State  remained  firm  when  other 
democratic  States  yielded  to  the  storm.  Tiiough  a  change  of  rulers  was 
effected, 'yet  the  financial  policy  upon  whicli  t!ie  democratic  party  stood 
remains  unchanged,  and  is  now  daily  vindicating  itselt  by  its  quiet, 
beneficent,  and  eflicient  action. 

It  was  after  such  a  contest,  in  wln'ch  might  tumporarily  prevailed  over 
right — in  which,  so  far  as  platforms  were  concerned  on  the  whig  side,  all 
was  loose,  indefinite,  uncommittal,  excepting  only  the  generous  promise 
of  better  times,  and  on  the  democratic  side  were  the  frankest  declaration 
of  principles  and  baldest  discussion  of  policy — that  Mr.  Pierce  re-entered 
the  Senate  at  the  extra  session  called  by  President  Harrison.  Then  New- 
Hampshire  made  herself  heard  and  felt  in  a  way  that  drew  towards 
her  the  eyes  of  the  whole  country.  Mr.  Pierce's  colleague  was  Levi 
"Woodbury,  fresli  from  the  Treasury  Department,  with  a  large  financial 
experience,  ready  statistics,  and  great  analytical  ability.  Mr.  Pierce  was 
chagrined  at  the  unfair  manner  in  which  his  party  had  been  overthrown. 
Democrats  in  that  body  were  in  a  minority,  and,  it  is  not  unjust  to  add, 
in  the  presence  of  a  dictatorial  and  overbearing  majority,  more  willing  to 
act  tlian  to  defend  their  action. 

The  debates  of  this  extra  session  speak  for  themselves.  Levi  Wood- 
bury not  merely  refuted  the  electioneering  financial  statements  of  whig 
orators,  but  most  successfully  encountered  all  who  attempted  to  controvert 
liim;  and  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  there  was  no  match,  on  financial 
points,  for  him  in  the  Senate,  and  he  absolutely  Waterlooed  his  antago- 
nists. Franklin  Pierce  was  not  behind  his  colleague,  and  did  not  hesitate 
to  encounter  even  Mr.  Webster  in  the  debates.  On  one  occasion  he 
occupied  the  morning  hour  of  three  days  (.Tune  30,  July  1  and  2,  1S41) 
in  a  speech  characterized  by  such  a  scathing  exhibition  of  facts,  such 
closeness  of  reasoning,  such  force  of  eloquence,  as  to  render  it  one  fit  to 
be  made  in  such  a  body.  This  effort  on  removals  from  office  was  warmly 
commended  and  widely  circulated  by  democratic  journals.  And  if 
figures  in  tlie  hands  of  Woodbury  mad<;  havoc  with  the  fancy  financial 
statements  of  whig  leaders,  professions  as  to  proscribing  proscription,  com- 
pared with  the  facts  of  the  removals  from  office,  in  the  hands  of  Pierce 
they  made  a  most  discreditable  exhibit  of  whig  partisan  tactics.  "That 
removals,"  he  exclaimed,  "  have  occurred,  is  not  the  thing  of  which  I 
complain;  I  complain  of  your  hypocrisy.  I  charge  that  your  press  and 
your  leading  orators  made  promises  to  the  nation  which  they  did  not 
intend  to  redeem,  and  which  they  now  vainly  attempt  to  cover  up  by 
cobwebs." 

In  IS'12  Mr.  Pierce  had  served  nine  years  in  Congress.  He  was  one 
of  the  youngest  men  who  have  held  a  seat  in  either  branch,  having  at- 
tained but  little  more  than  the  constitutional  age  when  he  took  his  seat 
both  in  the  House  and  the  Senate  ;  and  yet  his  bearing  was  such  as  to 


8 

have  made  its  mark  on  the  public  men  of  the  time.  Gestlemen  of  all 
parties  bear  willing  testimony  to  the  high  sense  of  honor,  the  general 
utility,  the  unvarying  courtesy,  that  marked  his  course.  He  won  the 
reputation — and  it  is  no  small  one — of  being  a  valuable  member  of  both 
branches — prompt  in  attending  to  the  business  of  his  committees,  with 
real  work  in  him,  and  with  great  debating  talent  to  present  his  case 
clearly  and  efficiently.  This  sort  of  labor  makes  but  little  show  ;  but  it 
is  most  useful  and  valuable  to  a  constituency  and  the  country.  His  rep- 
utation at  that  time  as  a  man  is  thus  concisely  given  in  a  recent  Wash- 
ington letter,  addressed  to  the  editor  of  the  "  Puritan,"  a  religipus  paper. 
The  writer  says : 

"  Of  Franklin  Pierce  I  cannot  do  otherwise  than  speak  well ;  for  it 
happened  to  me,  during  a  short  term  of  official  service  in  Bowdoin  Col- 
lege, during  the  presidency  of  Dr.  Allen,  to  know  him  as  a  scholar  there, 
and,  while  resident  in  this  region,  to  know  him  as  a  senator.  A  very 
frank,  gentlemanly,  unobtrusive  man  is  he,  strongly  devoted  to  his  po- 
litical principles,  kind  and  constant  in  his  friendships,  venerating  the 
institutions  of  religion,  and,  while  living  here,  attended  upon  the  most 
evangelical  preaching  in  the  city." 

It  would  be  easy  to  present  columns  of  Mr.  Pierce's  speeches.  These, 
together  with  his  votes,  present  him  as  a  politician  of  the  Virginia  school,, 
in  favor  of  an  economical  administration  of  the  general  government,  of  a. 
strict  construction  of  the  constitution,  and  as  a  republican  of  the  Jeffer- 
sonian  cast.  They  present  him  as  one  who  has  uniibrmly  acted  accord- 
ing to  fixed  principles,  swerving  neither  for  sympathy  nor  friendship  nor 
interest  from  the  constitutional  path,  but,  under  the  guidance  of  Ihisy 
honestly  and  fearlessly  performing  his  public  duties.  They  show  him  to 
be  thoroughly  identified  with  the  principles  and  measures  of  the  great 
party  which,  for  so  many  years  since  the  adoption  of  the  present  frame  of 
government,  has  successfully,  in  peace  and  war,  carried  the  country  on- 
ward and  upward. 

Mr.  Pierce's  various  speeches  on  the  abolitioii  question,  commencing- 
when  fifst  a  member  of  the  House,  and  continuing  almost  to  the  close  of 
his  senatorial  term,  v.ill  serve  to  give  his  views  on  the  living  questioa 
now  before  the  country.  On  this  point  he  has  pursued  but  one  course, 
and  it  has  always  been  decided  and  frank.  He  has  declared  from  the- 
first  that  he  regarded  the  schemes  of  the  abolitionists  mad  and  fanatical, 
and  prejudicial  in  their  consequences  to  all  sections  of  the  Union.  H& 
avowed  that  no  valuable  end  could  be  gained  by  an  agitation  of  the  sub- 
ject in  Congress  ;  and  when  petitions  poured  in,  asking  for  the  abolition 
of  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  he  was  frank  to  oppose  the  prayer 
of  the  petitioners.  This  object  was  but  their  opening  door.  He  declared 
it  to  be  impossible  to  read  a  single  number  of  leading  abolition  periodicals 
without  perceiving  that  their  object  stopped  at  no  point  short  of  emanci- 
pation in  the  States.  Now,  Congress  liad  no  constitutional  power  to  in- 
terfere with  slavery  in  the  States;  consequently  Mr.  Pierce  said,  in  1838^ 

"  The  citizen  of  New  Hampshire  is  no  more  responsible,  morally  or 
politically,  for  the  existence  and  continuance  of  this  domestic  institution 
in  Virginia  or  Maryland,  than  he  would  be  for  the  existence  of  any 
similar  institution  in  France  or  Persia.  Why  ?  Because  these  are  matters 
over  which  the  States,  respectively,  when  delegating  a  portion  of  their 


powerSj'to  be  exercised  by  the  general  government,  retained  tlie  whole 
and  exclusive  control,  and  for  which  they  are  alone  responsible. 

"  Now  let  these  doctrines  be  universally  understood  and  admitted,  and 
you  take  one  great  step  towards  satisfying  the  consciences  of  honest  but 
misguided  people  in  one  section  of  the  country,  and  quieting  the  irrita- 
tion, for  which  there  has  been  too  much  cause,  in  the  other." 

Again,  in  1S40,  he  thus  expressed  his  views  on  this  subject: 

"  I  do  earnestly  hope  that  every  honest  man  who  has  sincerely  at  his 
heart  the  best  interests  of  the  slave  and  the  master,  may  no  longer  be 
governed  by  a  blind  zeal  and  impulse,  but  be  led  to  examine  this  subject,, 
so  full  of  delicacy  and  danger  in  all  its  bearings;  and  that  \yhen  called 
upon  to  lend  their  names  and  influence  to  the  cause  of  agitation,  they 
may  remember  that  we  live  under  a  written  constitution,  whicli  is  the 
panoply  and  protection  of  the  South  as  well  as  the  North;  that  it  covers 
the  whole  Union,  and  is  equally  a  guarantee  for  the  unmolested  enjoy^ 
ment  of  the  domestic  institution  in  all  its  parts;  and  I  trust,  further,  that 
they  will  no  longer  close  their  eyes  to  the  fact,  that  so  far  as  those  in 
whose  welfare  they  express  so  nmch  feeling  are  concerned,  this  foreign 
interference  has  been,  and  must  inevitably  continue  to  be,  evil,  and  only 
evil." 

Once  more:  In  1841  he  raised  his  voice  against  the  policy  which,, 
under  the  rule  of  the  whig  Seward  men  of  the  day,  rewarded  the  aboli- 
tion faction  with  public  confidence  and  emolument,  and  thus  held  out 
to  them  not  only  encouragement,  but  urgent  stimulants  to  persevere  in 
their  incendiary  measures.  And  in  eloquent  notes  of  warning  he  pre- 
dicted that,  although  the  public  mind  was  not  then  agitated  on  this 
subject,  the  repose  would  prove  illusory;  that  there  was  below  the  surface 
a  profound  movement,  receiving  new  impulses,  that  would  ere  long  shake 
the  Union  to  its  centre;  and  lie  declared  then  that  it  was  his  pride  and 
pleasure  to  be  associated  with  such  a  party  as  existed  in  New  Hampshire,, 
which  had  with  one  voice  and  one  heart  been  in  favor  of  putting  down 
this  politico-religious  fanaticism,  and  been  against  any  interference  with 
the  rights  secured  to  the  States  by  the  constitution. 

In  1S42  Mr.  Pierce  resigned  his  seat  in  the  Senate,  in  the  following; 
letter: 

Washington,  Feljnianj  2S,  1842. 

Sir:  Having  informed  the  governor  of  New  Hampshire  that  on  this  day 
my  seat  in  tlie  Senate  of  the  United  States  would  become  vacant  by  resig- 
nation, I  have  thought  proper  to  communicate  the  fact  to  you  and  the 
Senate. 

In  severing  the  relations  that  have  so  long  subsisted  between  the  gen- 
tlemen with  v/hom  I  have  been  associated,  my  feeling  of  pain  and  regret 
will  readily  be  appreciated  by  those  who  know  that,  in  all  my  intercourse 
during  the  time  I  have  been  a  member  of  the  body,  no  unpleasant  occur- 
rence has  ever  taken  place  to  disturb  for  a  ihoment  my  agreeable  relations 
with  any  individual  senator. 

With  a  desire  for  the  peace  and  happiness  of  you  all,  for  which  noW;, 
in  the  fullness  of  my  heart,  I  find  no  forms  of  expression,  I  have  the 
honor  to  be,  with  the  highest  consideration,  your  obedient  servant, 

FRANK.  PIERCE. 

Hon.  Samuel  L.  Southard,  Pre^idoit  of  tlie  Senate. 


10 

The  following  is  General  Pierce's  letter  of  resignation  addressed  to  the 
governor,  referred  to: 

Washington,  February  16,  1842. 

Sir:  Circumstances  interesting  chiefly  to  myself,  and  with  which,  of 
■course,  I  shall  not  trouble  my  constiuienfs,  have  induced  me  to  resign 
my  seat  in  the  United  States  Senate.  My  resignation  is  herewith  tendered^ 
to  take  effect  from  and  after  the  2Sth  instant. 

I  may  be  permitted  barely  to  remark,  that  having  been  called  to  public 
iife  by  a  constituency  to  whom  1  shall  nevei-  cease  to  feel  profoundly 
grateful,  soon  after  I  became  of  age,  and  having  been  continuously  in 
their  service  from  that  period  to  the  present,  I  feel  the  need  of  the  quiet 
which  can  only  be  enjoyed  by  the  private  citizen,  and  the  necessity  of 
attending  to  my  pergonal  aftairs  and  piofessional  pursuits.  Those  who 
have  extended  to  me  a  friendship  always  warm,  and  a  confidence  that 
has  never  faltered,  will  clieerfuUy  excuse  ine,  especially  as  they  have 
better  and  abler  men  to  take  my  place.  1  should,  however,  be  mortified 
to  believe  that  he  who  shall  succeed  me,  either  by  ^-our  appointment  or 
by  the  voice  of  the  representative  body  of  the  people,  will  bring  to  the 
public  service  a  more  anxious  desire  to  maintain  the  honor  of  our  beloved 
State,  or  a  more  determined  purpose  truly  to  represent  not  only  the  inter- 
ests but  the  spirit  of  her  intelligent  and  gallant  people. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  with  high  consideration,  your  excellency's  obe- 
dient servant, 

FRANK.  PIERCE. 

His  Excellency  John  P.-vcje, 

Haverhill,  N.  II. 

Thus  did  a  young  man  only  thirty-seven  years  of  age  voluntarily  resign 
one  of  the  higliest  and  the  most  honorable  offices  in  the  gift  of  the  Ameri- 
can nation,  and  with  the  fixed  purpose  of  not  entering  public  life,  so  as 
to  be  separated  from  his  family,  unless  his  country  in  a  time  of  war  should 
call  for  his  services.  And  this  was  a  period  of  life  when  ambition,  the 
iove  of  power,  the  desire  of  preferment,  is  apt  to  be  the  strongest.  His 
future  promised  all  this.  Such  had  l)ecn  the  exhibition  of  talent  that 
eonmiands  respect  and  the  qualities  that  attract  regard,  that  he  might 
without  presumption  have  aspired  to  any  place  in  the  gift  of  his  country- 
nion.  But  these  considerations  did  not  move  him.  He  laid  aside  his 
senatorial  robe  without  regret,  and  sought  that  retirement  which  an  ele- 
vated patriotism  and  cultivated  taste  so  ardently  covet.  Such  a  course 
as  this  is  at  best  uncommon,  so  rarely  is  it  that  office  seeks  the  man — 
so  common  has  it  been  for  ambition  to  prostitute  much  that  marks  public 
virtue,  to  grasp  at  place. 

For  the  next  five  years  Mr.  Pierci  closely  applied  himself  to  tlie  prac- 
tice of  his  profession.  It  is  doing  him  no  more  than  justice  to  say  that 
here  he  was  eminently  succe.«sful,  and  won  his  way  to  the  first  rank 
among  the  eminent  lawyers  of  his  native  State.  To  those  who  are  ac- 
quainted with  the  legal  character  of  the  State,  this  is  not  small  praise. 
The  men  who  fixed  the  standard  of  talent  at  the  New  Hampshire  bar 
were  Jeremiah  Mason,  Daniel  Webster,  Levi  Woodbury,  Smith,  Sulli- 
van, Barllett,  Fletcher,  and  Bell;  no  one  of  whom  would  have  held  a 
secondary  position  at  any  bar  in  this  country,  and  any  one  of  whom 
would  have  been  a  man  of  rank  in  Westminster  Hall:  forming,  together, 


li 

an  array  of  legal  ability,  which,  if  equalled,  has  never  been  surpassed  in 
this  country.  And  while  we  do  not  claim  for  Genera!  Pierce  the  all  but 
legal  intuition  of  Mason,  who,  as  a  mere  la\\^'er,  was  the  leader  of  them 
all,  nor  tlie  colossal  strength  of  Webster,  and  wiiile  some  of  the  others 
may  possibly  have  surpassed  him  in  some  individual  traits  of  intellect, 
yet  for  skill  and  ability  in  presenting  a  case  to  the  jury,  and  for  success 
in  obtaining  verdicts,  he  was  surpassed  by  none  of  thcni — not  even  by 
the  tact  and  artistic  skill  of  Ichabod  Bartlett,  who  has  been  so  felicitously 
called  the  "  Randolph  of  the  North,"  nor  by  Sullivan,  the  silver  tones  of 
whose  voice  fell  upon  the  jury  like  a  spell. 

General  Pierce  is  truly  a  most  eloquent  advocate.  His  style  is  chaste; , 
his  dictJbn  rich  and  classic;  his  reasoning  vigorous  and  strong;  while  by 
his  brief  but  grand  and  fervid  <ippeals  to  the  loftier  sentiments  of  our 
nature,  he  enforces  the  lesson  that  his  argument  had  previously  taught. 
His  easy  and  continuous  llow  of  speech  pours  onward  in  full  volume,  as 
if  fed  from  an  exhaustless  fountain.  His  efibrts  are  marked  no  less  by 
insight  into  character,  and  uniform  good  sense,  than  by  close  reasoning 
:md  eloquent  appeal.  Hence  he  attained  a  practice  in  an  extraordinary 
degree  lucrative  and  respectable.  While  his  associates  bear  testimony  to 
his  honorable  manner  of  conducting  his  cases;,  his  clients  found  him  able, 
prompt,  and  faithful. 

In  IS45  Mr.  Pierce  was  appointed  by  the  governor  of  New  Hampshire 
a  senator  in  Congress  to  fill  the  unexpired  term  of  Levi  Woodbury,  but 
this  he  declined.  The  following  is  tlie  correspondence  that  took  place 
between  Governor  Steele  and  Mr.  Pierce  on  tliis  occasion: 

State  of  New  Hampshire, 

Concord,  Octoher  9,  1845. 

Dear  Sir:  It  has  become  my  duty  to  appoint  a  senator  to  the  Senate 
of  the  United  States  to  fill  the  vacancy  occasioned  by  the  resignation  of 
Hon.  Levi  Woodbury.  And  as  I  know  of  no  one  whose  appointment 
will  give  more  general  satisfaction  to  the  citizens  of  this  State  than  that 
of  yourself,  I  tlierefore  tender  to  you,  sir,  the  office  of  senator  to  the  Sen- 
ate of  tlie  United  States  from  the  date  of  these  presents  until  the  pleasure 
of  the  legislature  of  this  State  shall  be  made  known  at  their  next  session, 
•  Truly  yours, 

JOHN  H.  STEELE, 
Governor  of  the  State  of  New  Hampshire. 
Hon.  Franklin  Pierce. 


CoxcoRD,  Oc'.obcr  11,  1845. 

Sir:  On  luy  return  to  town  laf  t  night  I  found  your  official  letter  of  the 
9th  inst.  I  acknowledge,  with  unfeigned  gratitude,  this  evidence  of  j'our 
confidence,  and  regret,  on  many  accounts,  that  I  cannot  accept  the  ap- 
pointment. 

It  would  be  pleasant  again  to  meet  many  with  whom  I  was  for  years 
associated — pleasant  to  accede  to  your  wishes  and  the  wishes  of  other 
true  and  long-tried  friends— pleasant  to  maintain,  as  well  as  I  might  be 
able,  the  interests  and  honor  of  our  State  in  the  exalted  station  you  have 
been  pleased  to  assign  me.     But  with  all  these  considerations  urging  to 


]2 

acceptance,  I  find  others,  which,  fairly  Aveiglied,  constrain  me  to  decline-. 
My  personal  wishes  and  purposes  in  1842,  when  I  resigned  a  seat  in  tlie 
Senate,  were,  as  I  supposed,  so  perfectly  understood,  that  I  have  not  for 
a  moment  contemplated  a  return  to  public  life.  Without  adverting  to 
other  grounds,  which  would  have  much  influence  in  forming  my  deci- 
sion, the  situation  of  my  business,  professional  and  otherwise,  is  such 
that  it  would  be  impossible  for  me  to  leave  the  State  suddenly,  as  I  should 
be  called  upon  to  do,  and  be  absent  for  months,  without  sacrificing  to  a 
certain  extent  the  interests  and  disregarding  the  reasonable  expectations 
of  those  who  rely  upon  my  services. 

That  my  interest  in  the  honor  of  New  Hampshire,  and  my  devotion  to 
the  great  principles,  the  firm  maintenance  of  which  has  sccurcd'to  her  a 
proud  position  and  an  enviable  name  in  ail  parts  of  the  Union,  suffer  no 
diminution  in  retirement,  I  trust  may  be  made  sufhciently  apparent  ia 
every  contest  through  which  we  maybe  called  to  pass  in  support  of  those 
principles,  and  in  vindication  of  that  honor. 

I  am,  Yv^ith  the  highest  consideration,  your  excellency's  obliged  friend 
and  servant, 

FRANK.  PIERCE. 

His  Excellency  John  H.  Steele. 

At  the  State  convention  of  the  democratic  party,  subsequently  holden 
October  19,  1848,  he  was  tendered  the  nomination  of  governor,  but  he 
luihesitatingly  declined  the  high  honor.  He  was  engaged  in  the  trial  of 
an  important  cause  in  court,  during  the  sitting  of  the  convention;  but 
when  lie  learned  that  the  delegates  were  about  to  put  him  in  nomination, 
he  obtained  permission  to  be  absent  from  the  court-house  a  few  moments, 
and  proceeding  to  the  hall  of  die  convention,  he  tendered  the  democ- 
racy there  assembled  his  thanks  for  the  honor  they  had  done  him,  and 
congratulated  them  upon  the  prospects  befiu-e  them,  in  a  speech 
which  the  newspapers  of  that  date  speak  of  as  surpassingly  eloquent  and 
forcible. 

We  extract  the  following  from  the  speech  as  reported  at  the  time  : 

"  What  he  had  learned  before  he  came  into  the  convention,  as  well  as 
what  had  just  been  stated  by  his  friend,  (Mr.  Swasey,)  in  relation  to  the 
sentiments  of  an  assembly  of  delegates  so  numerous,  so  respeiftable,  so 
directly  fronr  the  people,  could  not  but  awaken  in  his  bosom  deep  emo- 
tion ;  indeed,  he  must  confess  a  degree  of  sensibility  wliich  almost  un- 
fitted him  for  the  utterance  of  the  few  remarks  which  his  engagements 
would  permit  him  to  make.  Could  it  be  otherwise  ?  It  was  now  twenty 
years  since  he  had  first  had  participation  in  the  politics  of  the  State  and 
nation,  of  greater  or  less  extent ;  and  in  all  that  time  he  had  received 
from  the  party  witli  which  it  had  been  his  pride  and  pleasure  to  act, 
nothing  but  manifestations  of  the  same  partiality  and  kindness  to  him 
personally  which  was  exhibited  here  to-day. 

"Bound,  then,  to  the  democracy,  not  only  by  ties  of  common  principles, 
and  extensive  relations  ol  long  personal  friendship,  but  by  every  obliga- 
tion of  gratitude,  he  could  not,  of  course,  feel  otherwise  than  deeply  in- 
terested in  all  that  related  to  the  maintenance  of  those  principles  and  the 
success  of  that  party.  Although  when  he  resigned  his  seat  in  the  United 
States  Senate  it  was  with  the  purpose  of  disconnecting  himself  entirely 
from  public  office,  and  from  any  active  participation  in  politics,  his  attach- 


13 

riieiit  to  Iiis  parly  had  never  grown  cold,  iior  his  confidence  in  the  sound- 
ness of  it#leading  principles  ever  been  shalzen." 

When  Hon.  John  P.  Hale  came  out  in  opposition  to  the  democratic 
party,  and  the  democrats  put  a  now  candidate  in  nomination,  Mr.  Pierce 
sustained  this  movement  with  his  accustomed  frankness  and  zeal,  although 
Mr.  Hale,  from  his  college  days,  had  been  his  warm  personal  friend.  He 
accepted  the  office  of  district  attorney  of  New  Hampshire,  as  the  duties 
of  this  were  in  the  hne  of  his  profession.     This  office  he  held  until  1847. 

In  1S4G,  President  Polk,  who  had  served  in  Congress  with  him,  and 
appreciated  his  brilliant  genius,  sound  principles,  and  administrative 
talent,  invited  him  to  a  seat  in  his  cabinet.  The  letter  of  Col.  Polk  is 
ahke  honorable  to  both.     The  President  says  : 

"It  gives  me  sincere  pleasure  to  invi^  you  to  accept  a  place  in  my  cab- 
inet, by  tendering  to  you  the  office  of  Attorney  General  of  the  United 
Slates.'  I  have  selected  you  for  this  important  office  from  my  personal 
knov.'ledge  of  you,  and  without  the  solicitation  or  suggestion  of  any  one. 
I  iiave  done  so  because  I  have  no  doubt  your  personal  association  with 
me  would  be  pleasant,  and  from  the  consideration  that  in  the  discharge  of 
the  duties  of  the  office  you  could  render  me  important  aid  in  conducting 
my  administration.  In  this  instance,  at  least,  the  office  has  sougirt  the 
man,  and  not  the  man  the  office,  and  1  hope  you  may  accept  it." 

Mr.  Pierce  declined  this  flattering  offer  in  the  following  terms: 

CoxcoRD,  N.  H.,  Sf'ptcmber  6,  1846. 

My  Dear  Sin:  Your  letter  of  the  27th  was  received  a  week  since. 
Nothing  could  have  been  more  unexpected;  and,  considering  the  im- 
portance of  the  proposition  in  a  great  variety  of  aspects,  I  trust  you  will 
not  think  there  has  been  an  unreasonable  delay  in  arriving  at  a  decision. 
With  my  pursuits  for  the  last  few  years,  and  my  present  tastes,  no  posi- 
tion, if  1  were  in  a  situation,  on  the  whole,  to  desire  public  emjiloyment, 
could  be  so  acceptable  as  the  one  wliich  your  partiality  has  proffered. 

I  oiight  not,  perhaps,  in  justice  to  the  high  motives  by  which  I  know 
you  aie  governed,  to  attribute  your  selection  to  personal  friendship;  but 
I  cannot  doubt  that  your  judgment  in  the  matter  has  been  somev/hat 
warped  by  your  feelings.  When  I  saw  the  manner  in  which  you  had 
cast  your  cabinet  I  was  struck  by  the  fact,  that  from  the  eiuire  range  of 
my  acquaintance  formed  at  Washington,  you  could  not  have  called  around 
you  men  witli  whom  it  was  my  ibrtune  to  be  better  acquainted,  or  of 
whom  I  entertained  a  more  delightful  recollection,  than  Mr.  Buchanan, 
Mr.  Walker,  Mr.  Mason,  and  Mr.  Johnson.  A  place  in  your  cabinet, 
therefore,  so  far  as  personal  association  is  concerned,  could  not  be  more 
agreeable  h.ad  the  whole  been  the  subject  of  my  own  choice. 

W^hen  I  add,  your  important  measures  in  the  f)reign  and  home  admin- 
istration of  the  government  have  commanded  not  merely  the  approbation 
of  my  judgment,  but  my  grateful  acknowledgments  as  an  American  citi- 
zen, you  will  see  how  dcsirablej  on  every  ground  connected  with  your 
administration,  the  office  tendered  would  be  to  me  ;  and  yet,  after  mature 
coiisideration,  I  am  constrained  to  decline.  Although  the  eaily  years  of 
my  manhood  were  devoted  to  public  life,  it  was  never  really  suited  to  my 
taite.     I  longed,  as  I  am  sure  you  must  ofien  have  done,  for  the  quiet 

« 


14 

t 

and  independence  mat  belong  only  to  the  piirate  citizen;  ai^  now,  at 
forty,  I  feel  that  desire  stronger  tlinn  ever.  ' 

Coming  unexpectedly  as  this  offer  does,  it  would  be  difficult,  if  not  im- 
possible, to  arrange  the  business  of  an  extensive  practice  between  this 
and  tlie  first  of  November  in  a  manner  at  all  satisfactory  to  myself  or  to 
those  who  have  xommitted  their  interests  to  my  care,  and  who  rely  ori 
my  services.  Besides,  you  know  that  Mrs.  Pierce's  health  while  at 
Washington  was  very  delicate — it  is,  1  fear,  even  more  so  now — and  the 
responsibihlies  which  the  proposed  ch&Yic^e  would  necessarily  hnpose  upon 
her,  ought  probably  in  themselves  to  constitute  an  insurmountable  objec- 
tion to  leaving  our  quiet  home  for  a  public  station  at  Washington. 

When  I  resigned  my  seat  in'the  Senate  in  1S42,  i  did  it  with  the  fixed 
purpose  never  again  to  be  voluntarily  separated  from  my  family  for  any 
considerable  length  of  tim.e,  except  at  the  call  of  my  country  in  time  of 
war;  and  yet  this  consequence,  lor  the  reason  before  stated  and  on  account 
of  climate,  would  be  very  likely  to  result  from  my  acceptance. 

These  are  some  of  the  considerations  which  have  influenced  my  deci- 
sion. You  will,  I  am  fjure,  appreciate  my  motives.  You  will  not  believe 
that  I  have  weighed  my  personal  convenience  and  ease  against  the  public 
interest,  especially  as  the  office  is  one  which,  if  not  sought,  would  be 
readily  accepted  by  gen.tlemen  who  could  bring  to  your  aid  attainments 
and  qualifications  vastly  superior  to  mine. 

Accept  my  grateful  acknowledgments,  and  believe  me  truly  and  faith- 
fully your  friend, 

FRANK.  PIERCE. 

The  good  taste,  beauty,  and  modesty  of  this  letter  need  no  v/ords  of 
coniuiendation. 

When  Mr.  Pierce  thus  declined  tiie  appointment  so  honorably  tendered 
to  huu  by  President  Pollc,  he  stated  that  he  did  it  v/ith  the  fixed  purposB 
to  await  the  call  of  his  country  in  a  time  of  war  ere  he  again  separated 
from  hi^  family.  The  breaking  out  of  the  Mexican  war  was  a  summons- 
to  him  to  engage  again  in  public  service.  When  the  requisition  was 
made  upon  the  State  of  New  Hampshire  for  a  battalion  of  volunteers,  he- 
was  one  of  the  fii-st  to  put  his  name  upon  the  roll  as  a  priva+e  in  the  com- 
pany raised  in  Concord,  and  in  this  capacity  he  drilled  in  its  ranks. 
When  the  ten-regiment  bill  was  pa-^.-ed  by  Congress,  the  President,  who 
had  served  with  Mr.  Fierce  and  appreciated  his  sterling  qualities  of  head 
and  heart,  tendered  to  him  the  appointment  of  colonel  of  the  ninth,  wliich 
was  promptly  accepted.  When  the  law  for  the  organization  of  the  n.e.w 
ten  regiments  Avas  passed,  the  President  tendered  Mr.  Pierce  the  appoint- 
ment of  brigadier  general.  Tins  selection  was  hailed  in  all  pans  of  the 
country  as  a  happy  one.  "From  his  earliest  manhood,"  says  the  Nash- 
ville Union,  September,  1847,  "General  Pierce  has  been  the  boast  of  the 
yew  Hampshire  democracy.  From  his  father,  a  distinguished  officer  in 
the  Revolution,  he  inherited  all  those  qualities  of  courage,  coolness,  and 
energy  which  qualify  a  man  f()r  command.  And  he  also  possesses  quali- 
ties as  a  statesman  of  the  highest  order.  That  he  Aviil  distinguish  hijnself 
wherever  distinction  is  to  be  won,  his  multitude  of  acquaintances,  in  all 
the  States  of  the  Union,  of  all  parties,  will  vouch." 

The  brave  Ransom  was  of  this  regiment,  and  Colonel  Pierce  wrote  to 
President  Polk  and  urged  him  to  appoint  Ransom  to  the  command.    The 


15 

President,  however,  thought  fit  to  do  otherwise.  Kis  commission  as 
brigadier-general  is  dated  March  3,  1847.  At  this  point  General  Loav,  a 
patriotic  citizen  of  Concord,  New  Hampshire — as  he  stated  in  1847,  on 
the  occasion  of  General  Pierce's  return — asked  him  if  it  were  true  that  he 
had  decided  to  sunder  the  tender  ties  of  husband  and  father,  and  yield 
the  enjoyments  and  comforts  of  home,  to  maintain  the  cause  of  his  coun- 
try.    General  Pierce's  reply  was  : 

"  I  have  accepted  of  the  commission.  I  could  not  do  otherwise.  I  was 
pledged  to  do  it.  When  I  left  the  Senate,  it  was  witli  a  fixed  purpose  of 
devoting  myself  exclusively  to  my  profession,  with  the  single  reservation 
that  if  my  country  should  become  engaged  in  war,  I  would  ever  hold 
myself  in  readiness  to  serve  her  in  the  field,  if  called  upon  to  defend  her 
honor  and  maintain  her  riglits.  War  has  come,  and  my  p'.ig'ited  word 
must  and  shall  be  redeemsd." 

General  Pierce's  headquarters,  for  a  short  tim.e,  were  at  the  Tremont 
House,  Boston,  where,  with  his  noble  and  gallant  friend,  the  lamented 
Ransom,  he  engaged  diligently  and  energetically  in  the  work  of  prepara- 
tion. Tliere,  as  he  departed  for  tiie  post  of  duty  and  danger,  he  took 
leave  of  many  friends.  One  of  them  expresF^d  a  ho'pe  that  he  would 
return  in  safety  and  in  honor.  "I  will  come  back  with  honor,  or  I  will 
not  come  back,"  was  his  reply. 

General  Pierce  sailed  from  Newport  in  the  barque  Kepler.  Many  of  the 
troops  on  board  being  sick,  suifered  from  the  v^ant  of  water,  having  been 
placed  on  short  allowance.  General  Pierce,  on  receiving  his  allowance, 
mingled  with  the  suifv-'ring  soldiers  and  made  them  share  his  part.  It  was 
but  the  comniencument  of  that  universal  care  for  the  brave  men  under 
him,  and  uniform  kindness  and  attention  to  them  that  was  cliaracteristic 
of  his  nature  and  marked  his  v.'hole  course  through  the  campaign.  He 
arrived  at  Vera  Cruz  June  28.  Here  he  encountered  a  pestilenlial  camp, 
and  was  himself  taken  sick.  Still  he  was  ever  mindful  of  his  companions 
ia  arms.  He  lent  funds  .'reely  to  the  needy,  and  was  often  seen  among 
the  wearied  soldiers  cheering  them, on.  In  spite  of  disease  his  loss  liere 
was  but  trifling;  and,  after  delays  to  procure  matej^als  which  the  iuture 
comfort,  safety,  and  health  of  liis  command  rendered  absolutely  neces- 
sary, he  left  Vera  Cruz  in  the  middle  of  the  hot  month  of  July,  with  one 
of  the  largest  reinforcements  and  most  extensive  trains  that  had  started  for 
the  interior  since  General  Scott's  departure.  His  brigade  consisted  of  the 
ninth  seginieni.  New  England  men;  the  twelfth,  men  from  Texas,  Mis- 
souri, Arkansas,  northern  Mississippi,  and  Louisiana;  and  the  fifteenth, 
raised  m  Ohio,  Iowa,  Wisconsin,  Michigan,  the  eastern  part  of  Missouri^ 
and  tlie  western  part  of  Indianii — in  all  about  twenty-five  hundred  men. 
Hit.  Hue  of  march  was  beset  by  Mexicans  and  guerilla  bands,  determined 

•  intercept  all  reinforcemefits  on  then'  way  to  the  American  commander, 

'  :'n  ih.e  work  of  [.'hinder  and  massacre;  and  the  object  of  General 

was,  not  to  seek  encounters  with  the  enemy,  but  to  present  to  his 

■  '":  the  greatest  number  of  troops  in  the  best  condition  that  it  was 

!.'  (or  him  to  do. 

■Jn  iiie  fiisi  of  August  General  Pierce,  at  Perote,  advised  General  Scott 

u!  lUe  siate  cf  Ills  command.     It  consisted,  to  a  great  extent,  of  northern 

^■•.■raiu;,  able  and  willing  men,  and  in  fine  condition,  so  far  as  health  was 

V  liCenicd.     He  h.a*l  lost  but  one  man  by  the  vomito  at  Vera  Cruz,  and 


16 

none  by  that  disease  on  tlie  march;  and  tliough  the  bridge  at  San  Juan 
had  been  partiallj^  destroyed,  the  main  arcli  at  Plan  del  Rio  had  been 
blown  up,  and  he  had  been  five  times  attacked,  yet  he  says  he  had  really 
encountered  nothing  that  coiilfl  be  construed  into  serious  resistance.  "I 
shall  bring  to  yotir  command,"  the  General  informs  his  chief,  "about 
twenty-four  hundred  of  all  arms.  To-morrow  morning,  at  four  o'clock,  I 
shall  leave  here  for  Puebla,  and  shall  make  the  march  in  five  days." 

General  Pierce  joined  General  Scott  at  Puebla,  August  6,  witir  his  com- 
mand in  fine  condition.  On  the  next  day,  August  7,  the  American  army 
moved  forward  to  fight  the  gr-eat  battles  of  the  valley  of  Mexico,  winch 
resulted  in  the  waving  of  the  American  l!ag  over  the  halls  of  the  Monte- 
zumas.  It  is  not  necessary  to  describe  events  so  honorable  to  the  officers 
who  directed  them,  and  to  the  country  that  sent  them  forth.  It  will  be 
sufficient  to  state,  in  a  concise  and  summary  way,  such  persona!  service 
as  fell  to  the  lot  of  General  Pierce.  His  whole  career  in  Mexico,  from  the 
■time  he  landed  in  Vera  Cruz  until  he  left  the  conquered  city,  was  of  such 
a  character  as  to  have  won  the  admiration  of  the  olficers  of  the  regular 
army,  and  the  love  of  the  men.  He  exhibited  gallantry  bef.^re  the  enemy, 
and  proved  himself,  in  the  words  of  one  of  the  old  officers  who  saw  him 
act,  "  etnuiently  the  friend  and  father  of  his  command.''^ 

■General  Pierce  was  at  Vera  Cruz  with  twenty-five  hundred  men  in 
June,  1847,  when,  contrary  to  his  expectations,  he  was  obliged  to  remain 
anore  than  three  weeks,  in  consequence  of  the  want  of  requisite  provisions, 
while  he  was  for  more  than  four  weeks  in  the  ticrra  caliente,  the  vomito 
region.  At  length  he  marched  from  Vera  Cruz  with  a  train,  which,  when 
■closed  up,  extended  two  miles.  He  went  through  a  country  and  over  a 
road  strong  in  natural  defences,  swarming  with  guerillas,  dogged  at  every 
.step  by  a  wily  enemy,  with  constant  alarms  and  reports  of  attacks,  and 
was  assaulted  six  times  on  his  march  ;  and  yet  he  reached  Puebla  without 
the  loss  of  a  single  Avagon,  and  with  his  command  in  fine  order.  The 
conduct  of  the  general  in  tliis  march — his  energy,  his  sleepless  vigilance, 
coolness  in  difficulty,  good  judgment  and  skill  in  availing  himself  of  the 
services  of  his  static — won  the  highest  encomiums  from  military  men 
of  the  old  line,  and  elicited  the  warm  commendations  of  General  Scott. 
This  march  alone  proved  him  to  possess  the  qualities  of  an  able  and  suc- 
cessful commander. 

General  Pierce  was  in  action  at  the  National  Bridge.  Here  the  Mexi- 
cans were  strongly  posted.  The  place  furnished  strong  natural  advantages. 
Across  the  main  bridge  they  had  thrown  a  barricade,  and  on  a  high  biufT 
which  commanded  it  they  had  added  breastworks.  There  was  no  way 
,in  which  this  position  could  be  turned,  and  the  General's  artillery  would 
have  been  inetfective  for  the  most  commanding  point  in  which  it  could 
be  placed.  He  determined  to  cross  under  the  fire  of  the  enemy's  esco- 
pettes.  His  order  to  storm  these  works  was  admirably  executed.  Lieu- 
tenant Colonel  Bonham's  battalion  rushed  forward  with  a  shout,  under  a 
heavy  fire  from  the  enemy  that  struck  down  many  of  his  men.  But  they 
pressed  forward  and  leaped  tlie  barricade,  followed  by  Captain  Duperu's 
company  of  cavalry.  In  ton  minutes  the  enemy  were  in  flight  in  every 
direction.  General  Pierce  was  by  the  side  of  Colonel  Bonhani  in  this 
attack.  Both  had  narrow  escapes.  The  Colonel's  horse  was  shot,  and  a 
ball  passed  througli  the  rim  of  the  General's  hat.  This  was  a  v.^ell-devised 
■and  gallant  aflair,  and  the  fame  of  it  vrcnt  before  General  Pierce,  and  he 


17 

was  handsomely  spoken  of  in  the  army.     This  was  the  first  action  of 
nnich  account  in  wliich  he  was  engaged. 

General  Pierce  was  again  in  action  at  Contreras  on  the  lOtli  of  August. 
His  brigade  was  ordered  to  attack  the  enemy  in  front.  He  came  in- sight 
of  the  Mexicans  at  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  and  led  his  men  in  the 
attack.     He  was  under  a  galling  fire  of  the  enemy  three  hours. 

General  Scott's  official  account  of  General  Pierce  is  that  of  being  "more 
than  three  hours  under  a  heavy  fire  of  artillery  and  muskets  along  the 
almost  impassable  ravine  in  front  and  to  the  left  of  the  entrenched  camp. 
Besides  twenty-two  pieces  of  artillery,  the  camp  and  ravine  were  defended 
closely  by  masses  of  infantry,  and  these  again  supported  by  clouds  of 
cavalry  at  hand  and  hovering  in  view."  This  was  the  front  of  the  ene- 
my's works  at  Uontrcras.  The  gallant  ninth  and  twelfth  regiments  of 
infantry — General  Pierce's  command — moved  with  great  alacrity  and 
coolness,  and  to  the  admiration  of  the  army,  for  three-fourths  of  a  mile, 
under  a  heavy  fire  of  round  shot  and  shells,  to  a  position  wliich  they 
nobly  maintained  from  two  till  nine  o'clock  p.  m.  As  lie  was  lead- 
ing his  brigade  through  a  perfect  shower  of  round  shot  and  shells  from 
the  strong  entrenchnients  in  front  and  the  musketry  of  the  infantry,  his 
horse,  being  at  full  speed,  fell  under  him  upon  a  ledge  of  rocks.  He 
sustained  severe  injury  by  the  shock  and  bruises,  but  especially  by  a 
severe  sprain  in  his  left  knee,  which  came  under  him.  At  first  he  was 
not  conscious  of  being  much  hurt,  but  soon  became  exceedingly  faint. 
Dr.  Ritchie,  a  surgeon  in  his  command,  assisted  him  and  administered 
to  him.  In  a  few  moments  he  was  able  with  difficulty  to  walk,  when  he 
pressed  forward  to  Captain  Magruder's  battery.  Here  he  found  the  horse 
of  Lieutenant  Johnson,  who  had  just  received  a  mortal  wound.  He  was 
permitted  to  take  this  horse,  was  assisted  into  the  saddle,  and  contiiuied 
in  it  until  eleven  o'clock  that  night.  At  nine  o'clock  he  was  the  senior 
officer  on  the  field,  when  he  ordered  his  command  to  a  new  position. 
The  night  was  dark,  the  rain  poured  in  torrents,  and  the  ground  was 
dilfii-ult,  yet  the  General  kept  still  on  duty.  At  one  o'clock,  in  his  bi- 
vouac, he  received  orders  tioin  General  tScott  by  General  Twiggs  and 
Captain  Lee,  when,  at  the  head  of  his  command,  he  moved  to  take 
another  position,  to  he  in  readiness  to  aid  in  the  operations  of  the  next 
morning.  Sucli  was  General  Pierce's  service  in  the  afternoon  and  night 
of  August  19. 

At  daylight  on  the  morning  of  the  20th  his  command  assailed  the  ene- 
my with  great  intrepidity,  and  contributed  nuicli  to  the  consummation  of 
the  work  begun  on  the  previous  day.  That  morning  Valencia,  with 
seven  thousand  troops,  was  defeated.  General  Pierce  still  kept  the  sad- 
dle, and  was  at  the  head  of  his  brigade.  He  was  ordered  to  pursue  the 
flying  enemy,  and  as  he  passed  the  enemy's  works  the  scene  was  awful: 
the  road,  he  says,  and  adjacent  fields,  everywhere  strewed  with  the  man- 
gled bodies  of  the  dead  and  the  dying.  "  We  continued  the  pursuit," 
he  says,  "until  one  o'clock,  when  our  front  came  up  with  the  enemy's 
strong  works  at  Churubusco  and  San  Antonio."  Then,  af^er  one  o'clock, 
this  great  conflict  coumienced. 

At  San  Angel  dispositions   had  been  made   to  attack   in   reverse   the 

enemy's  works  on  the  San  Augustine  road.     Gen.  Scott  ordered  him  to 

march  his  brigade,  in  concert  with  that  of  the  intrepid  General  Shields, 

across  the  open  country  between  Santa  Catarina  and  the  above  road,  in 

2 


18 

order  to  cut  off  the  retreat  of  the  enemy.  This  position  was  promptly 
reached.  Tlie  enemy's  hne  was  found  in  perfect  order,  extending  as  far 
ill  either  direction  as  the  eye  could  reach,  and  presenting  a  splendid 
show.  He  was  vigorously  and  successfully  attacked.  At  the  head  of 
his  command,  General  Pierce  arrived  at  a  ditch  which  it  was  impossible 
for  his  horse  to  leap.  He  dismounted,  and,  without  thinking  of  his  in- 
jury, he  hurried  forward  at  the  head  of  his  brigade,  for  aboHt  three 
hundred  yards,  into  the  midst  of  the  enemy's  fire.  Turning  suddenly 
upon  his  knee — the  cartilage  of  which  had  been  badly  injured — he  fainted, 
and  fell  upon  a  bank  in  direct  range  and  within  pt^vfect  reach  of  the 
Mexican  shot.  The  route  of  the  Mexican  force  was  soon  complete. 
Colonel  O'Hara,  who  saw  him  and  served  with  him  in  this  battle,  says 
"  he  was  found  in  the  foremost  rank  of  battle,  and  through  most  of  that 
bloody  day  he  was  the  spirit  of  the  wing  in  wiiich  he  was  placed." 

This  was  the  first  time  that  he  fought  under  Scott's  eye,  who,  in  his 
despatch,  terms  him  "the  gallant  Gen.  Pierce."  That  noble  soldier. 
Gen.  Worth,  too,  in  his  official  report,  acknowledges  his  obligations  and 
expresses  his  admiration  of  his  gallant  bearing.  Gen.  Pillow,  also,  says 
in  his  official  report,  (August  24,  1847,)  "Brig.  Gen.  Pierce,  though 
badly  injured  by  the  fall  of  his  horse  while  gallantly  leading  his  brigade 
into  the  thickest  of  the  battle  on  the  19th,  did  not  quit  the  field,  but  con- 
tinued in  command  of  his  brigade,  two  regiments  of  which— the  9ih  and 
l'2th  infantry,  under  the  immediate  command  of  the  gallant  C^olonel  Ran- 
soin  and  Lieut.  Colonel  Bonham  on  the  19th,  and  Captain  Woods  on  the 
20th — assailed  the  enemy's  work  in  front,  at  daylight,  with  great  intre- 
piditj?^,  and  contributed  much  to  the  glorious  consummation  of  the  work 
so  handsomely  commenced  on  the  preceding  day."  While  the  official 
reports  of  Gen.  Pierce's  superior  officers  are  thus  ample  as  to  his  bearing, 
those  of  inferior  grade  are  not  less  so.  An  officer  of  the  ninth  regiment, 
writing  from  Mexico  in  1S47,  of  Gen.  Pierce  says  ;  "  I  imagine  1  can 
see  him  now  upon  that  black  horse  at  Contreras.  He  gave  us  a  word  or 
two  as  we  filed  past,  in  a  shower  of  shot  and  shells,  in  return  for  which 
we  gave  him  a  cheer.  I  saw  him,  too,  at  Churubusco,  notwithstanding 
he  was  hardly  able  to  sit  on  his  horse,  with  the  bullets  flying  around  him." 

General  Pierce's  next  service  waa  his  connexion  with  the  armistice, 
which  the  enemy  asked,  it  was  supposed,  with  a  view  to  peace.  He  had 
not  taken  off  his  spurs  nor  slept  an  hour  for  two  nights,  in  consequence 
of  the  pain  of  his  knee  and  his  engagements  in  the  field.  It  was  after  he 
had  been  borne  insensible  from  tiie  battle,  and  had  just  recovered  from 
his  faintness,  that  he  received  notice  of  the  honorable  distinction  that  had 
been  conferrfid  upon  him,  in  being  appointed  one  of  the  commissioners  to 
arrange  the  terms  of  an  armistice.  He  obeyed  the  summons,  was  helped 
into  his  saddle,  rode  two  and  a  half  miles  to  Tacubaya,and  met  the  com- 
missioners at  the  house  of  Mr.  Mcintosh,  the  British  consul  general. 
The  conference  commenced  late  in  the  afternoon,  and  at  four  the  next 
morning  the  articles  were  signed.  The  result  is  well  known.  American 
liberality  and  humanity  were  repaid  by  Mexican  treachery  and  falsehood. 
On  the  7th  of  iSeptember  hostilities  were  renewed.  The  American  army, 
after  another  series  of  brilliant  feats  of  arms,  hoisted,  on  the  morning  of 
the  14th  of  September,  the  American  flag  on  the  National  Palace.  Among 
them  were  the  battles  of  Molino  del  Rey  on  the  8th,  and  of  Chepultepec 
on  the  12th,  13th,  and  14th. 


19 

General  Pierce's  next  service  was  in  connexion  with  the  battle  of  Mo- 
lino  del  Key,  September  8th.  His  brigade  was  ordered  into  action  by 
Gen  Scoit,  who  commended  the  zeaf  and  rapidily  of  its  moven;ent. 
Though  the  battle  had  been  decided  before  it  reached  the  field,  yet  Gen. 
Pierce  bmugin  his  command  under  fire  in  such  fine  order  as  to  win  praise 
from  the  old  oliicers.  Here  he  was  for  some  time  engaged  in  the  Iionor- 
abie  service  of  covering  the  removal  of  killed  and  wcnnidcd,  and  tlie  cap- 
tured anmiunition,  from  the  field.  While  so  occupied — Col.  Riley  in  his 
official  report  writes — "  the  2d  infantry — temporarily  under  the  orders  of 
Brigadier  General  Pierce — became  engaged  with  tiie  enemy's  skirmishers 
at  the  foot  of  Cliepultepec."  In  this  battle  J.  H.  Warlan'd,  an  officer  of 
the  army,  writes,  (1S47,)  that  the  New  England  regiment  was  ordered  to 
take  off  the  dead  and  wouiided  and  cover  tiie  withdrawal  of  the  troops 
from  the  field.  Tlie  duty  assigned  was  an  honorable  one  and  was  wor- 
thily performed.  Geueral  Pierce  led  a  portion  of  his  brigade  before  the 
blazing  fire  of  iho  enemy's  cannoii  wiih  a  degree  of  courage  and  daring 
which  has  been  spoken'  ot  with  admiration.  He  narrowly  escaped  M'ith 
his  life  ;  several  limes  the  six-poimders  ranging  within  a  few  inches  of 
him.  and  ploughitig  the  ground  by  the  side  of  his  horse.  He  contiiuied 
waving  his  sword  and  encouraging  his  troops  till  the  duty  assigned  was 
performed.     The  cry  was — •"  Uome  on,  brave  New  England  boys  !" 

The  same  gentleman  wrote  the  lines  containing  notices  of  the  New 
England  officers  in  the  army.     Of  General  Pierce  he  writes — 

"  Break  New  England's  lion  spirit! 
No — not  while  t'terce  can  plunge-  his  steed 

Aniiii  the  e.innon  blazing  nenr  it, 
Wave  his  bright  sword  and  onward  lead." 

General  Pierce's  next  service  was  in  connexion  with  the  battle  of  Ohe- 
pultepec.  His  brigade  was  assigned  an  important  position  on  the  12th — ■ 
the  evening  previous  to  the  battle — which  it  was  prompt  to  take.  But 
the  General  had  been  for  thirty-six  hours  previous  confined  to  his  bed  and 
was  not  with  his  brigade.  And  it  was  owing  to  this  illness  that  he  was 
not,  on  the  1.3ih,  by  tlie  side  of  the  brave  Ransom  and  Seymour,  storming 
the  heights  of  Chepnltepec.  Ill  as  he  was,  however,  to  the  surprise  of 
his  brother  officers,  he  left  his  bed  on  the  night  of  the  13th,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  sharing  in  the  contemplated  storming  of  the  Mexican  capital  on 
the  following  morning.  It  was  a  most  evenUul  night.  The  brave  Gen- 
eral Quitman  had  literally  fought  his  way  by  the  gate  Belen  to  a  jjoint 
within  Mexico,  where,  under  cover  of  darkness,  he  was  raising  deiences 
in  the  position  he  had  won  to  shelter  his  corps.  At  this  time  he  was 
under  the  guns  of  a  most  formidable  citadel,  which  had  yet  to-  be  con- 
quered. It  was  such  times  that  called  forth  tlie  indefatigable  energy  of 
the  accomplished  engineers.  Sand-bags  were  procured  ;  parapets  were 
completed  ;  formidable  batteries  were  constrncted  ;  a  24-pounder,  an  IS- 
inch  pounder  and  an  8-inch  howilzer,  were  placed  in  position— such 
heavy  labor  being  cheerfully  done  by  the  men  under  the  very  guns  of 
the  great  Mexican  citadel.  Now,  one  of  the  gallant  regiments  hx  this  post 
of  real  danger  and  glory  was  the  New  England  ninth— part  of  Pierce's 
command;  and  dniing  the  night,  while  the  vigilant  Qnitman  v/as  over, 
seeing  these  trenches,  General  Pierce  reported  to  him  in  persoH,.  received 
orders  to  protect  Steptoe's  light  battery,  and  received  General  Quitman's 
thanks  for  his  prompt  execution  of  the  orders.     At  that  time  there  was 


not  an  officer  in  the  army  who  did  not  expect  an  assault  at  daylight. 
But  in  the  morning  a  white  flag  came  from  this  very  citadel,  and  gave  the 
first  joyful  news  that  Santa  Ana  had  evacuated  Mexico  ! 

While  such  was  the  specific  service  of  General  Pierce,  his  general  bear- 
ing, as  to  his  relations  with  his  command,  from  the  time  he  landed  in 
Mexico  to  tlie  hour  of  his  departure,  was  such  as  to  win  golden  opinions 
from  all.  From  the  time  he  left  Vera  Cruz  unlit  he  reached  the  valley  of 
Mexico,  he  was  every  rod  either  in  the  saddle  or  on  foot.  This  could  be 
said  of  but  few  officers;  for,  in  consequence  of  change  of  climate,  or  of  the 
■water,  or  of  exposure,  many  were  obliged  to  take  an  ambulance.  Thus 
did  he  share  the  fatigues  of  his  troops.  He  attended  to  their  wants  in 
sickness;  he  was  by  their  side  when  wounded  or  dying;  he  received  their 
last  rf  quests.  Hence,  because  he  had  a  heart  to  sympathize  Avith  them 
was  he  idolized  by  his  men.  His  gentlemanly  bearing  and  republican 
manners  made  him  a  great  favorite  with  all.  Hence  tlie  universal  testi- 
mony was,  that  he  had  conducted  as  a  general  officer  with  great  honor 
and  eminent  usefulness.  "  Old  Anny,"  written  by  one  who  was  an  eye- 
witness of  the  career  of  General  Pierce,  and  who  says  "  he  has  reason  to 
believe  that  every  nflrer  of  the  old  army  would  sustnin  him  in  what  he 
writes,''  says,  "  that  in  his  service  in  Mexico  he  did  his  duty  as  a  son  of 
the  republic;  that  he  was  eminently  patriotic,  disinterested,  and  gallant; 
and  that  it  has  added  a  laiuel  to  his  beautiful  civic  wreath.  As  a  citizen, 
he  has  been  ready  to  make  sacrifice  for  his  country.  As  a  soldier  and 
commander,  he  has  shown  gallantry  before  the  enemy,  and  was  emi- 
nently the  friend  and  father  of  his  command." 

In  December,  after  it  was  ascertained  that  there  would  be  no  more 
fighting.  General  Pierce  left  Mexico  for  home.  He  left  with  the  respect, 
regret,  and  admiration  of  all.  "  I  am  sorry  he  is  going,"  writes  an  offi- 
cer, "  as  I  don't  know  of  a  man  who  would  do  better  for  the  men  under 
his  command,  or  one  that  the  soldiers  would  like  so  well."  Another 
writes:  "  To  my  great  surprise,  1  find  that  General  Pierce  will  leave  to- 
morrow, with  the  train  for  Vera  Cruz.  He  has  borne  himself  with  great 
honor  and  usefulness  as  a  general  officer.  It  is  said  of  him  here,  that 
after  the  terrible  battles  of  the  valley  of  Mexico  he  visited  the  wotuided 
and  dying  soldier,  and  with  an  untiring  vigilance  and  open  hand  admin- 
istered without  stint  or  measure  to  the  alleviation  of  their  sufferings.  VVe 
all  regiet,  especially  those  of  us  from  IN'ew  England,  his  purpose  to  retire 
from  the  service." 

The  American  Star,  published  in  tlie  city  of  Mexico,  contained  the  fol- 
lowing notice  of  him  on  the  occasion  of  his  departure: 

"  Brig.  General  Pierce  — Among  the  distinguished  officers  of  the 
American  army  who  return  to  the  United  Slates  with  the  train  which 
leaves  the  city  to-day,  is  Brig.  General  Franklin  Pierce,  of  New  Hamp- 
shire. The  Americans  in  the  city  will  greatly  regret  the  departure  of  this 
accomplished  gentleman  and  officer,  and  certain  we  are  tliat  tlieir  best 
wishes  for  his  future  happiness  will  go  with  him.  It  is  Gen.  Pierce's 
gentlemanly  bearing,  his  urbane  and  republican  manners,  which  have 
made  him  so  great  a  favorite  with  both  officers  and  men.  It  is  his  pur- 
pose, we  believe,  to  resign  the  place  which  he  now  occupies  in  the  army 
immediately  upon  his  return  to  his  residence.  Like  others  of  different 
grades  attached  to  the  army,  he  left  the  endearments  of  home,  at  the  call 
of  the  government;  to  participate  iu  the  battles  of  his  country.     He  left, 


21 

also,  a  lucrative  profession,  which  none  other  than  a  patriotic  motive 
could  have  induced  him  to  relinquish.  The  sacrifice,  however,  was  most 
cheerfully  met.  Gen.  Pierce  has  won  a  high  reputation  in  the  United 
States  for  his  courage  and  bravery,  as  every  paper  that  reaches  us  bears 
evidence.  He  left  Vera  Cruz  in  the  middle  of  July,  with  one  of  the 
largest  reinforcements  for  General  Scott,  and  the  most  extensive  Uains 
that  have  left  that  city  since  its  bombardment. 

"  In  the  several  battles  before  the  city  General  Pierce's  brigade  behaved 
most  nobly,  as  all  our  readers  are  well  aware,  and  the  General  conducted 
himself  most  gallantly  at  Contreras,  Churubusco,  and  Molino  del  Rey, 
though  in  the  first-named  action  he  sustained  a  severe  injury  by  a  plunge 
and  fall  of  his  horse  among  the  rocks  of  Padierna.  During  the  storming 
of  Chepultepec  he  was  confined  to  his  room  by  indisposition,  or  he  would 
have  been  charging  with  his  men  over  the  precipitous  heights  where  his 
gallant  friend,  tlie  lamented  Ransom,  fell.  But,  though  Gen.  Pierce  has 
thus  honorably  distinguished  himself,  he  is  not  ambitious  of  retaining  his 
high  position  in  the  service,  and  thus  acquiring  distinetion  in  the  army. 
He  prefers  the  quieter  and  gentler  pursuits  of  professional  life,  and  we 
know  that  he  will  be  welcomed  to  liis  pleasant  home  in  New  England 
with  hearts  as  warm  as  ever  beat  in  the  human  bosom.  He  will  return 
to  his  native  hills  with  new  laurels,  and  with  the  prayers  of  all  that  he 
may  long  live  to  enjoy  the  company  and  society  of  those  who  are  dear  to 
him.  Many  fears,  since  his  departure  from  New  England,  have  been 
expressed  in  the  public  papers  and  private  letters  that  General  Pierce  had 
either  fallen  a  victim  to  the  climate  of  the  tierra  caliente,  or  under  the  guns 
of  the  enemy.  His  friends  and  relatives,  however,  are  now  assured  of 
his  safety  and  health,  and  they  will  greet  him  with  as  warm  a  welcome 
as  an  honored  son  of  New  England  ever  received.  Happiness  go  with 
him." 

General  Pierce  arrived  in  Washington  about  the  middle  of  January. 
A  Washington  correspondent  of  the  Baltimore  Sun  thus  noticed  his  career 
and  character: 

"General  Franklin  Pierce  arrived  here  on  Saturday  from  Mexico.  This 
gallant  officer  is  on  his  way  to  New  Hampshire,  on  a  visit  to  his  family. 
The  General  is  a  young  man,  and  forcibly  reminds  me  of  the  generals  of 
the  Revolution — full  of  talent  without  pretension,  and  full  of  military  ca- 
pacity without  military  bombast.  Once  a  senator  in  the  Congress  of  the 
United  States;  once  tendered  the  Attorney  Generalship— the  first  he  re- 
signed before  the  expiration  of  his  term,  and  the  last  he  declined  when 
offered.  To  his  credit  be  it  said,  that  when  the  country  called  to  arms 
he  was  among  the  first  who  accepted  the  service  offered  him.  The  high 
opinion  held  of  him  by  men  and  officers  evinces  the  propriety  of  the  selec- 
tion and  the  capacity  of  the  man." 

General  Pierce,  though  he  left  Mexico  in  December,  when  negotiations 
were  in  progress,  did  not  leave  the  service  until  after  it  was  well  ascer-^ 
tained  that  the  treaty  of  Guadalupe  Hidalgo  (of  February  2,  1S4S)  would 
be  ratified.  This  was  in  March.  There  was  no  more  work  for  him  in 
the  field,  and  he  then  resigned  his  connnission.  This  was  an  appropri- 
ate close  of  a  high,  patriotic,  and  perilous  duty.  At  the  call  of  the  law 
he  promptly  rallied  to  the  standard  of  the  law,  and  freely  exposed  his  life 
in  its  behalf.    He  did  this  gallantly.     But  war  is  not  his  profession.     He 


becomes  a  soldier  only  when  his  country  has  battles  to  fight;  and  when 
these  are  over,  he  throws  by  his  sword  and  mingles  in  the  cjniet  dnties  of 
private  life.  Such  was  the  spirit  and  principle  of  the  men  of  the  Revolu- 
tion; and  General  Pierce  went  on  to  the  battle-fields  of  Mexico  with  the 
same  idea  with  which  his  father  before  him  went  to  Bunker  Hill. 

General  Pierce,  on  resigning  his  commission,  returned  to  Concord. 
His  reception  was  most  honorable  to  the  patriotic  citizens  of  that  town. 
They  assembled  in  large  numbers,  and  Gen.  Low  acted  as  the  president 
of  the  day.  General  Pierce  was  accompanied  by  Lieutenant  Thomas  P. 
Pierce,  of  the  ninth  regiment,  his  acting  aid,  and  Lieutenant  Gove,  of 
the  same  regiment.  General  l,ow,  on  addressing  the  citizens,  alluded  to 
the  object  of  the  meeting,  paid  a  tribute  to  the  high  motives  and  profound 
sense  of  lionor  from  which  General  Pierce  acted,  described  the  triumphs 
of  the  American  army  as  it  planted  the  American  flag  on  the  Mexican 
capital,  and  concluded  as  follows  : 

"  Here  we  see  our  friend  triumphantly  leading  on  his  command.  But 
this  is  not  all  we  see  of  him.  We  behold  the  camp  after  the  hour  of 
battle  has  passed  away.  We  behold  it  wrapped  in  the  silence  of  night. 
We  see  the  killed  and  the  wounded,  and  we  look  for  our  friend.  We 
fidd  him  unattended  passing  through  the  long  line  of  tents,  in  which 
were  to  be  seen  the  palhd  cheek  and  exhausted  frame  of  the  dying  soldier. 
To  minister  to  them  is  the  business  of  his  lonely  rounds.  He  visits  the 
tents,  he  hears  their  last  words,  and  receives  their  last  mortal  requests, 
and  expends  upon  them  his  last  shilling  to  procure  for  them  necessaries 
■which  they  could  not,  in  such  a  place,  otherwise  obtain.  Is  not  such  a 
son  worthy  of  the  State  that  gave  him  birth?"  [Cheers.]  Turning  to 
General  Pierce,  he  continued:  "  I  can  say  no  more,  sir.  Your  services 
are  understood  here  ;  and  now,  in  the  name  of  this  meeting,  and  in  my 
own  behalf  likewise,  I  bid  you  a  hearty  welcome  home  to  yoUr  adopted 
town.  And  in  the  name  of  all  the  people  in  every  town  in  this  State,  I 
congratulate  you  upon  your  safe  return  to  the  capital  of  your  native 
State." 

General  Pierce  now  advanced  to  the  front  of  the  platform  to  reply.  He 
labored  under  deep  emotions,  the  nature  of  which  could  be  well  gathered 
from  the  tone  and  topics  of  his  remarks.  Although  one  of  the  most 
forcible  and  fluent  speakers  in  the  country,  on  this  occasion  he  avoided 
everything  in  the  shape  of  speaking  for  efl'ect.  He  spoke  of  matters 
which  intensely  interested  his  audience: 

"  He  said,  whatever  had  been  his  portion  of  the  danger  encountered  or 
exposure  endured,  or  the  long  sad  days  and  sleepless  nights  of  those  he  had 
left  behind,  none  of  which  would  have  occurred  to  him  but  for  the  remarks 
of  the  president,  he  had  been  more  than  compensated  by  tiie  reception  he 
had  met,  setting  aside  the  consciousness  of  duty  performed.  He  felt  an 
embarrassment  in  addressing  the  meeting  that  he  could  hardly  account  for. 
He  felt  profoundly  grateful  to  that  Being  who  not  only  watches  over  the 
nations  of  the  earth,  but  over  the  welfare  of  the  humblest  individual.  He 
did  not  take  to  himself  the  honor  of  attracting  such  a  numerous  and  ex- 
cited assembly  as  stood  befiire  and  around  him.  The  gathering  was  on 
account  of  the  great  number  of  their  gallant  sons,  brothers,  and  friends 
that  had  formed  a  part  of  his  command.  They  had  come  to  hear  not 
only  of  those  who  live,  but  of  those  who,  having  displayed  their  de\-otioa 


23 

to  llieif  country,  now  ropose  on  a  foreign  soil.  A  set  speech  to  an  audi- 
ence actuated  by  the  feehngs  which  he  perceived,  would  be  aUogetheroiit 
of  place.  It  would  be  a  sort  of  desecration  to  attempt  any  display  on 
such  occasions.  Upon  tlie  main  topic  which  they  must  be  anxious  to 
hear  about,  he  could  not  frame  a  set  speech.  They  wanted  to  hear  of  the 
ninth  regiment,  the  glorious  New  England  regiment,  which  was  assem- 
bled in  such  hot  haste,  and  in  such  hot  haste  met  the  enemy.  There 
was  not  a  generous  or  just  man  in  the  State  who  had  not  pronounced  in 
favor  of  their  motives.  Laying  aside  all  the  ties  of  home,  and  the  feir 
promises  of  youth  and  its  enjoyments,  and  suffering  the  partings  Which 
press  the  life-blood  from  our  young  hearts,  they  responded  to  their  coun- 
try's call,  with  a  high  moral  purpose  that  could  not  be  exceeded. 

"During  the  three  weeks  at  Vera  Cruz,  caused  by  the  want  of  mules 
and  wagons  for  transportation^a  delay  aggravated  by  wide  spread  sick- 
ness— he  never  heard  a  murmur  from  a  soldier  under  his  command.  A 
more  cheerful  set  of  lads  they  could  not  have  been  if  they  had  been  at 
home  by  their  own  happy  firesides.  Their  subsequent  exploits  had  been 
read  in  the  official  reports.  He  would  not  detail  them.  On  the  march, 
in  the  fight,  everywhere,  one  predominant  feeling  animated  them.  The 
question  was  not  who  should  be  ordered  forward;  but  whicli  corps  should 
be  allowed  to  go  forward  first  against  the  enemy.  At  night  they  were 
cheerful  in  their  tents,  and  longing  for  the  morning,  which  should  bring 
with  it  the  order  to  move  forward  to  battle  New  Hampshire  had  no 
occasion  for  any  other  feeling  than  that  of  pride  in  regard  to  her  sons 
who  belonged  to  the  command.  They  had  proved  themselves  brave, 
devoted,  selfsacrificing  spirits.  And  Concord,  too,  was  well  represented 
among  them.  There  was  Henry  Caldwell,  one  of  the  bravest. and  most 
determined  soldiers  in  the  army.  There  was  Sergeant  Stowell,  who  was 
shot  plump  through  the  heart  at  Churubusco.  As  his  last  breath  flowed 
he  whispered  to  me,  '  Do  the  boys  say  I  beha\'ed  well?  If  I  have,  write 
home  to  my  people.'  Then  there  was  Sergeant  Pike,  who  had  his  leg 
shot  otr  in  advancing  along  on  a  causeway  swept  by  three  batteries.  Two 
amputations  which  did  not  answer  the  purpose  were  performed,  and  a 
third  was  deemed  hopeless.  Die  he  must,  it  was  thought.  '  I  know 
better  than  they  do,'  he  said,  'I'll  try  another;  and  when  they  cut  it 
again,  I  hope  they  will  cut  it  so  that  it  will  stay  cut.  A  third  amputa- 
tion was  performed,  and  he  lived  through  it.  He  and  the  others  named 
were  printers.  In  the  new  levies,  the  printers  exceed  by  twenty  per 
cent,  those  of  any  other  vocations;  and  on  account  of  their  intelligence 
and  high  spirit,  they  have  proved  the  most  efficient  soldiers  in  the  field, 

"General  Pierce  also  named  Brown  and  Swett,  of  Concord,  as  particu- 
larly distinguished;  and  Captain  Cady  and  Lieutenants  Potter  and  Dana, 
of  the  old  line.  Nor  did  he  forget  Sergeant  West,  of  Manchester,  who 
fell  at  the  head  of  liis  column,  and  was  always  there  when  there  was  any 
fighting  to  be  done.  But  in  mentioning  the  men  of  New  Hamjishire,  or 
of  New  England,  he  would  claim  for  them  no  superiority  over  others. 
The  present  army  was  made  up  of  artillery,  cavalry,  the  old  army,  and  the 
new  levies,  representing  every  State  ot  the  Union;  and  it  was  not  in  the 
p.iwer  of  man  to  say  which  had  done  the  best  service.  To  many  it  had 
been  matter  of  great  surprise  that  the  new  levies  had  fought  as  they  had 
done.  But  it  is  in  the  race.  He  would  take  from  the  audience  before 
hira  a  regiment  who  woftld  do  the  same,     la  executing  manoeuvres  and 


in  forming  combinations  in  front  of  an  enemy  by  wheeling,  counter- 
marching, &c.,  old  soldiers  are  undoubtedly  better ;  but  when  it  came  to 
close  fighting,  as  in  storming  or  charging,  it  was  the  man  that  did  the 
work,  and  not  the  n  anceuvring;  and  in  such  work,  the  men  who  had 
never  before  been  under  fire  or  handled  a  bayonet  stood  well  side  by  side 
with  the  long-trained  soldier.  Another  cause  of  the  success  of  our  troops, 
new  and  old,  was  the  conduct  of  the  officers,  who,  from  the  highest  to 
the  lowest,  led  and  cheered  on  their  columns.  Hence  the  disproportion 
in  the  loss  of  officers  and  men.  Hence  the  loss  of  that  most  brave  and 
accomplished  of  officers  of  the  ten  new  regiments — Colonel  Ransom.  He 
kept  pressing  up,  pressing  up,  till  he  was  shot  dead  at  the  head  of  his 
column.  The  same  was  true  of  Colonel  Martin  Scott,  the  first  shot  in 
the  army — a  son  of  New  Hampshire.  He  raised  himself  above  the  pro- 
tection of  a  wall.  A  brother  officer  begged  him  not  to  expose  himself 
unnecessarily.  He  replied:  'Martin  Scott  has  never  yet  stooped.'  The 
next  moment  a  shot  passed  through  his  heart.  He  fell  upon  his  back, 
deliberately  placed  his  cap  upon  his  breast,  and  died.  Colonel  Graham, 
after  receiving  six  severe  wounds,  continued  at  the  head  of  his  men,  and, 
upon  receiving  a  seventh  through  the  heart,  slowly  dropped  from  his 
horse;  and  as  he  fell  upon  the  ground,  said:  'Forward,  my  men!  my 
■word  is  always/o7W'w</.''     And  so  saying,  he  died. 

"  Having  referred  to  Lieutenants  Foster  and  Daniels  and  to  several 
officers  of  the  old  army.  General  Pierce  proceeded  to  say  he  had  to  retract 
opinions  he  had  formerly  entertained  and  expressed  in  relation  to  th*-  Mil- 
itary Academy  at  West  Point.  He  was  now  of  the  opinion  that  the  city 
of  Mexico  could  not  have  been  entered  in  the  way  it  was  but  for  the 
intelligence  and  science  in  military  affairs  of  the  officers  of  the  old  army, 
mostly  from  West  Point.  Services  were  rendered  by  the  officers  of  the 
topographical  engineers  and  ordnance  which  could  not  have  been  rendered 
but  by  men  who  had  received  the  most  complete  military  education. 
The  force  of  the  Americans  had  been  overrated.  Only  seven  thousand 
five  hundred  etfeciive  men  left  Puebla  to  attack  a  city  of  two  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  inhabitants,  defended  by  thirty-five  thousand  of  the 
best  troops  ever  raised  in  Mexico,  one  hundred  pieces  of  cannon,  and  the 
finest  fortifications  ever  raised,  in  addition  to  the  natural  defences  of 
marshes  and  lakes.  » 

"  In  conclusion,  he  said  he  was  not  here  to  discuss  any  matters  of  con- 
troversy, but  to  meet  his  friends.  Yet  the  subject  of  war  was  necessarily 
presented  to  their  consideration  by  the  occasion.  Before  entering  in  it,  it 
was  his  belief  that  the  war  had  been  irresistibly  pressed  upon  ns.  If  he  had 
doubted  before,  conversations  he  had  had  with  the  most  intelligent  Mexi- 
cans would  have  confirmed  him  in  the  opinion  that  the  war  was  unavoid- 
able on  our  part.  Four  of  the  Mexican  conanissioners  were  in  favor  of 
the  propositions  submitted  by  Mr.  Trist,  but  they  were  overawed  by 
threats  and  demonstrations  of  the  mob  in  Mexico,  stinuilated  by  oppo- 
nents to  the  then  existing  government.  Even  now  the  people  will  go 
to  the  last  extremity  against  a  peace.  They  say  it  is  the  first  time  within 
the  last  twenty  years  that  they  have  been  under  any  protection.  They 
are  in  favor  of  merging  the  naiionaliiy  of  Mexico  in  that  of  the  United 
Stales.  They  say  they  care  nothing  for  a  nationality  which  has  afforded 
them  no  protection  in  either  civil  or  political  rights.  Their  rights  are 
protected  by  American  arms.  .  • 


25 

"Again:  the  course  a  very  large  number  of  the  public  presses  in  the 
United  States  have  pursued  has  created  obstacles  to  peace.  Mexican 
papers  are  filled  with  articles  and  speeches  from  the  United  States,  de- 
nouncing the  war  on  our  part  and  justifying  Mexico.  The  Mexican 
editors  publish  tliem,  with  the  remark  that  nothing  remains  to  be  added 
by  them  to  make  out  the  justice  of  their  course  towards  the  United  States. 
On  the  same  day  that  he  saw  in  a  Jalapa  paper  a  whole  page  of  extracts 
from  American  papers,  he  saw  stuck  up  on  the  trees  the  proclamation  of 
Salas  to  the  guerillas,  ending  with  the  watchword,  '  Death  to  the  Yankees, 
without  mercy!'  Thus  was  furnished  from  our  own  country  the  food 
which  fed  the  ferocity  that  pursued  tlie  army  at  every  turn,  and  caused 
the  butchering  of  every  soldier  who  fell  into  their  hands.  In  the  office 
of  the  secretary  in  Mexico,  extracts  from  American  papers  were  found 
filed  away  in  their  pigeon-holes.  They  had  been  used  in  framing  their 
proclamations. 

"  Should  the  Mexicans  find  the  Americans  standing  together  on  the 
question  of  the  war,  peace  would  follow  alniosSt  instantaneously.  An  oppor- 
tunity is  now  presented  to  make  peace  by  "strengthening  the  hands  of 
President  Herrera,  and  the  peace  party,  who  have  obtained  a  majority  in 
Congress. 

"  General  Pierce  continued  to  renew  his  expressions  of  gratitude  for 
his  reception." 

This  year  the  legislature  voted  General  Pierce  a  splendid  sword  as  a 
token  of  their  approbation  of  his  gallantry  in  the  field  and  their  esteem 
for  him  as  a  man.  This  vTas  pres»nt»tl  to  him,  in  behalf  of  the  State, 
by  the  governor.  Genwal  Fierce  made  an  eloqaent  and  beautiful  reply. 
After  alluding  to  the  fact  that  out  of  the  six  hundred  and  forty  men  who 
went  with  him  to  Mexico,  less  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  lived  to  return, 
he  said: 

''  1  accept  this  splendid  weapon  from  the  people  of  New  Hampshire 
with  an  abiding  sense  of  the  personal  regard  which  has  never  seemed  to 
grow  cold.  May  I  not  be  permitted  to  say,  without  reference  to  my  politi- 
cal associations,  that  I  receive  it  as  one  among  multiplied  evidences,  so 
far  as  the  men  of  my  own  time  of  life  are  concerned,  of  something  like  a 
fraternal  esteem  and  confidence,  which  it  has  been  my  highest  pur|xise  to 
merit,  and  is  my  firmest  never  to  lose.  In  the  mean  lime,  I  am  not 
unmindful  of  another  and  higher  consideration  which  actuated  the  legis- 
lature. The  sword,  though  given  to  me,  was  designed  and  received  as 
a  token  of  the  estimation  in  which  you  hold  the  services  and  sacrifices  of 
the  officers  and  soldiers  of  the  brigade  which  it  was  my  good  fortune  to 
command;  and  to  them  I  would  have  the  grateful  thoughts  of  my  friends 
turned  to-day — to  the  noble  dead;  to  the  mea  who  wiih  their  life-blood 
sealed  their  devotion  to  the  rights  and  honor  of  the  republic;  to  the  gal- 
lant living,  who,  having  fulfilled  their  mission  amid  the  untried  scones  of 
an  eventful  campaign  on  a  foreign  soil,  arc  now  unobtrusively  and  use- 
fully pursuing  tlie  avocations  of  civil  life  at  home. 

"  Your  thoughts  and  purposes  in  this  matter  are  not  circumscribed  by 
the  limits  of  JNew  Hampshire  or  New  England.     You  embrace  the  12th 
and  loth  regiments  no  less  warmly  tiian  the  9th.     It  will  ever  be  a  matter 
of  gratification  to  me  tliat  the  three  regiments  of  my  brigade  were  com-  _ 
posed  of  men  from  the  extreme  south,  north,  and  west  of  the  UnioUj 


26 

because  it  illustrated,  in  an  hour  of  trial  and  danger,  that  unity  which  is 
our  strength.  The  question  never  arose,  during  the  varied  scenes  of 
that  summer,  on  what  side  of  a  geographical  line  a  man  was  born  or 
reared;  he  stood  upon  the  field  by  your  side,  an  American  officer  or  an 
American  soldier,  with  an  American  heart;  and  that  was  enough  for  any 
of  us  to  know.  It  was  a  glorious  brotherhood.  The  highest  hope  of 
patriotism  looks  to  the  permanence  and  all-pervading  power  of  that  feel- 
ing. It  is  the  panoply  under  which  whatever  is  dear  and  precious  in  our 
institutions  will  repose  in  security.  Over  it  may  the  stars  and  stripes 
float  forever!" 

The  constitution  of  New  Hampshire  contains  provisions  at  war  with 
the  spirit  of  the  age  and  discreditable  to  the  intelligence  of  the  State,  and 
her  able  and  liberal  statesmen  have  long  warred  against  them.  One  of 
them  is  the  religious  test,  in  theory  excluding  Catholics  from  office, 
though  practically  it  is  a  dead  letter.  In  1S50  a  convention  was  called  to 
revise  the  constitution,  and/5eneral  Pierce  allowed  himself  to  be  elected 
a  menibpr  from  Concord.  .This  convention  met  at  the  New  Hampshire 
State-house  on  the  sixth  of  November.  It  consisted  of  two  hundred  and 
ninety  members,  comprising  a  fine  representation  of  the  intelligence,  the 
political  and  judicial  service  and  moral  worth  of  the  Granite  State.  A 
more  respectable  assembly  never  assembled  in  its  borders.  Gen.  Pierce 
was  elected  its  president,  and  it  afforded  a  most  gratifying  proof  of  the 
estimation  in  which  he  was  held  by  his  native  State.  No  man  in  it  was 
more  competent  to  discharge  this  service;  and  the  prompt,  impartial,  and 
dignified  manner  in  which  he  performed  the  duties  of  a  presiding  officer 
won  him  new  laurels.  Nor  was  this  all.  When  some  of  the  obn.Dxious 
features  of  the  constitution  were  under  discussion  he  left  the  chair,  min- 
gled in  the  debate,  and  gave  his  influence  to  have  them  expunged.  Such, 
for  instance,  was  his  course  as  to  the  proposition  to  strike  out  the  test  re- 
quirement of  the  constitution,  which  provides  that  some  of  the  principal 
offices  shall  not  be  filled  except  by  persons  of  the  protestant  religion. 
General  Pierce,  in  his  speech  on  this  occasion,  declared  that  undoubtedly 
this  test  had  been  a  stigma  on  the  State  at  home  and  abroad;  that  he  had 
felt  keenly  the  reproach;  tliat  it  was  unworthy  of  the  intelligence  and 
liberal  spirit  of  his  countrymen.  Indeed,  he  said,  such  were  his  views 
that  with  iiim  it  was  no  longer  an  open  question,  and  rejoiced  that  the 
occasion  had  arrived  when  the  obnoxious  form  would  be  dispensed  with. 
"The  great  question  of  religious  toleration,"  he  said,  "  was  practically 
settled,  and  settled  in  a  manner  never  to  be  reversed,  while  we  retained 
our  present  form  of  government,  more  than  thirty  years  ago."  The  test, 
at  least,  had  been  a  dead  letter,  a  blank,  on  the  statute-book.  These 
were  views  that  had  been  ever  entertained  by  General  Pierce,  and  no 
man  in  the  State  had  taken  a  more  decided  stand  on  this  question.  Its 
abolition  was  triutnphantly  carried  in  the  convention.  And  when  the 
people  of  Concord  assembled  in  town  meeting  to  rote  on  the  amendments 
to  the  constitution  submitted  by  this  convention,  General  Pierce  attended, 
and  made  another  eloquent  speech  in  favor  of  the  great  principle  of  reli- 
gious freedom. 

General  Pierce  from  this  time  continued  in  the  assiduous  pursuit  of  his 
profession.  But  he  also  kept  n-armly  iiUerested  in  the  politics  of  the  time; 
and  in  the  critical  period  that  elicited  the  Compromise  measures,  he  once 
more  became  an  active  politician.    His  views  as  to  these  measures,  which 


27 

were  then  pending,  were  expressed  in  a  private  letter  dated  May  9,  1S50, 
and  addressed  to  a  distinguished  democratic  senator: 

"  I  have  been  so  constantly  occnpied  in  court  that  no  leisure  moment 
has  presented  itself  for  the  acknowledgment  of  your  noble  speech  upon 
Mr.  Bell's  proposition  for  a  compromise  of  the  question  which  has  so 
deeply  agitated  Congress  and  the  country  during  the  last  few  months.  I 
appreciate  your  kind  remembrance  of  me  personally.  As  a  Aew  Hamp- 
shire man,  I  hear  your  name  pronounced  only  with  pride;  as  an  Ameri- 
can citizen,  I  acknowledge  with  gratitude  the  eminent  public  services 
that  have  signalized  your  course  along  the  whole  line  of  your  useful  life. 

"  It  grieves  me  to  observe  that  the  spirit  of  concession  and  honorable 
compromise  is  not  stronger  and  more  pervading  at  Washington.  I  have 
no  apprehension  that  the  disruption  of  this  Union  is  at  hand;  but  1  foresee 
consequences  appalling  in  this  daily  use  of  the  terms  'North  and  South,'- 
as  terms  of  antagonism.  What  are  the  North  and  South  but  component 
parts  of  our  common  country — parts  which  should  be  regarded  as  abso- 
lutely inseparable;  not  united  merely  by  reciprocal  rights  and  obligations 
arising  under  the  constitution,  but  bound  together  by  ties  of  atl'eclion, 
common  interest,  and  reciprocal  respect;  recognising  at  all  times,  and 
above  all,  that  noble  band  of  brotherhood  which  concentrated  the  genius, 
and  courage,  and  patriotism  that  achieved  our  independence — that  has 
sustained  the  country  in  all  its  trials;  that  bond  to  which  tlie  republic  is 
indebted  for  a  career  more  rapid  and  wonderful  than  any  that  has  hitherto 
marked  the  march  of  civilization  and  civil  liberty? 

"  You  have  doubtless  observed  that  a  great  ellbrt  is  being  made  to  give 
currency  to  the  impression  that  the  opinions  and  sentimonts  advanced  by 
yourself  find  nothing  like  a  general  response  in  New  England.  I  do  not 
believe  the  fact  to  be  so  in  this  State.  Our  people  set  a  value  ujx)n  the 
Union  which  language  cannot  express;  they  look  for  a  compromise — ex- 
pect a  compromise — conceived  in  a  spirit  of  justice  and  patriotism,  firmly 
and  manfully." 

On  the  20th  of  November,  at  Manchester,  he  took  part  in  one  of  the 
most  interesting  and  impiirtant  political  meetings  ever  held  in  New  Hamp- 
shire. It  was  one  of  the  Union  meetings  which  were  called  at  that  period 
in  order  to  give  a  pledge  of  fidelity  to  the  Union,  the  constittition,  and  the 
laws.  A  delegation  of  five  hundred  wont  from  Concord  to  attend  this 
gathering.  On  being  introduced  by  the  president.  General  Pierce  was 
received  with  the  most  enthusiastic  cheers.  Though  he  disclaimed  any 
purpose  of  making  a  regular  address,  yet  he  made  an  eloquent  appeal  in 
behalf  of  a  performance  of  constitutional  duties.  In  the  course  of  it  the 
following  scene  occurred: 

"  He  was  in  the  United  States  Senate  when  tliat  word  was  heard  for 
the  first  time  on  that  floor,  and  never  should  he  forget  the  thrill  of  horror 
it  sent  through  that  body.  A  deep  and  solemn  pause  ensued,  and  sena- 
tors shuddered  as  they  slowly  turned  their  eyes  upon  the  bold  author  of 
the  appalling  suggestion.  But  he  had  now  lived  to  hear  hisses  while  one 
of  the  secretaries  of  the  meeting  was  reading  a  resolution  in  favor  of 
union.  [Tliis  remark  drew  hisses,  and  General  Pierce  proceeded:]  They 
hiss  again.  L-et  them  be  met  by  argument;  let  the  discussion  come,  and 
he  that  is  defeated  must  go  to  the  wall  and  yield  the  question.  That  is 
the  way  to  manage  such  matters  in  a  free  country.  ^Phere  must  be  no 
breaking  up  of  the  government  in  case  of  defeat.     If  we  are  precipitated 


28 

into  a  war  by  fanaticism,  we  cannot  conquer.  Both  sections  of  the  coun- 
try may  be  immolated.  Neither  could  come  out  of  the  contest  short  of 
ruin.  It  was  said  that  we  of  the  North  could  bring  two  men  into  the  field 
for  every  one  that  the  South  could  muster;  but  it  would  be  found,  when 
the  trial  should  come,  that  the  man  who  now  makes  that  boast  would  not 
be  one  of  the  two  men,  who  was  to  go  forth  to  meet  even  the  one  man 
from  the  South.     [Great  cheering.] 

"  General  Pierce  said  the  men  then  in  the  hall  who  had  abandoned  them- 
selves to  the  infatuation  of  disunion  sentiments  would  probably  live  to 
regret  and  repent  of  their  present  course.  In  the  comnig  days  of  decrepi- 
tude, when  the  infirmities  of  age  shall  have  crept  upon  them,  they  would 
gather  their  children  around  them,  and  confess  how  they  were  once  be- 
trayed into  moral  treason,  and  as  a  legacy  say  to  them,  '  Stand  by  your 
Union,  and  stand  by  your  country.'  He  said  he  deemed  it  unnecessary 
•to  go  into  a  formal  argument  in  support  of  the  Union.  The  resolutions 
embraced  all  that  could  be  said  on  that  subject.  When  the  Compromise 
■was  first  proposed  in  Congress,  he  had  no  doubt  that  the  Union  would  go 
down  unless  the  measures  recommended  were  carried.  The  defeat  of 
the  first  attempt  overwhelmed  him  wiih  apprehension,  understanding  that 
the  Compromise  was  hitended  to  give  to  the  South  a  sense  of  greater 
security  for  one  of  their  rights  than  they  felt  they  had  for  some  time  past 
possessed.  Who  did  not  deplore  slavery?  But  wliat  sotuid-thinking 
mind  regarded  that  as  the  only  evil  which  could  rest  upon  the  land?  The 
men  who  would  dissolve  the  Union  did  not  hate  or  deplore  slavery  more 
than  he  did;  but  even  with  it,  we  had  lived  in  peace,  prosperity,  and 
security,  from  the  foundation  of  our  institutions  to  the  present  time.  If 
the  constitution  provided  for  the  return  of  fugitive  slaves,  it  should  be 
done.  That  was  what  he  wanted  to  do;  that  was  what  our  fathers  agreed 
we  should  do;  and  that  was  what  the  friends  of  the  Union  established  by 
them  wanted  to  do.  [Hisses.]  There,  said  General  P.,  are  the  argu- 
ments of  the  'higher  law,'  I  suppose." 

It  was  in  connexion  with  these  measures  that  the  New  Hampshire  de- 
mocracy made  a  bold  movement  as  to  their  candidate  for  governor,  Mr. 
Atwood.  After  he  had  been  long  in  nomination,  and  within  three  weeks 
of  the  election,  it  was  ascertained  that  he  had  written  letters  in  favor  of  a 
repeal  of  one  of  these  measures  which  were  acceptable  to  the  free  soil 
party.  Prompt  action  was  taken;  the  same  convention  that  put  Mr.  At- 
wood in  nomination  was  reassembled;  a  new  candidate  was  elected;  and 
though  the  democratic  party  did  not  succeed  in  electing  him  by  the 
people,  yet  he  was  elected  by  the  legislature.  General  Pierce  had  an 
important  agency  in  this  movement.  Though  Jlr.  Atwood  had  long  been 
his  fellow-townsman  and  always  a  personal  fiiend,  yet  the  General  prose- 
cuted an  active  canvass  against  him,  and  contributed  more  than  any  other 
man  to  effect  his  overthrow.  This  year  (1S.52)  the  democracy  have  been 
again  victorious — the  bold  movement  of  the  succeeding  year  having  been 
sustained.  A  jubilee  was  held  by  the  Manchester  democracy  on  the  oc- 
casion of  this  renewed  triumph,  to  which  General  Pierce  was  invited. 
His  reply  was  as  follows: 

Concord,  March  16,  1852. 

My  Dear  Sir:  Your  letter  of  the  12th  instant  was  duly  received.  I 
yield  with  extreme  reluctance  to  circumstances,  which  deny  me  the 
pleasure  of  participating  in  your  jubilee.     The  victory  seems  to  lack  no 


2d 

element  of  completeness.  It  is  the  triumph  of  riglit  over  wrong — of  the 
(lemociacy  single-handed  overall  factions  and  all  combinations — of  fidelity 
to  the  constilntion  and  the  Union  over  virtual  treason  to  both.  Present 
my  thanks  to  the  Uommittec  of  Arrangements,  my  congratulations  to  the 
meeting,  and  with  them,  if  you  please,  the  subjoined  sentimeni.  In 
haste,  your  friend, 

FRANK.  PIERCE. 
Hon.  Samuel  H.  Ayer. 

"  Tlie  Compromise  Measures  of  1850  and  the  New  Hampshire  Democra- 
cy: Upon  the  former,  the  latter  have  fixed  the  seal  of  their  emphatic  ajipro- 
bation.  No  North,  no  South,  no  East,  no  West,  under  the  constituiion; 
but  a  sacred  maintenance  of  the  common  bond  and  true  devotion  to  the 
common  brotherhood." 

In  January,  IS52,  the  democracy  of  New  Hampshire  in  convention 
presented  General  Pierce  as  the  democratic  candidate  for  the  presidency. 
This  elicited  the  following  loiter  of  declination: 

Concord,  January  12,  1852. 

My  Dear  Sir:  I  take  the  liberty  to  address  you,  because  no  channel 
more  appropriate  occurs  to  me  through  wliich  to  express  my  thanks  to  the 
convention  over  which  you  presided  on  the  Sth  instant,  and  to  the  masses 
there  represented. 

I  am  far  from  being  insensible  to  the  steady  and  generous  confidence 
so  often  manifested  towards  me  by  the  people  of  this  State;  and  although 
the  object  indicated  in  the  resolution,  having  particular  reference  to  my- 
self, be  not  one  of  desire  on  my  part,  the  expression  is  not  on  that  account 
less  gratifying. 

Diiubtless  the  spontaneous  and  just  appreciation  of  an  intelligent  people 
is  the  best  earthly  reward  for  earnest  and  cheerful  services  rendered  to 
one's  State  and  Country;  and  while  it  is  a  matter  of  unfeigned  regret  that 
my  life  has  been  so  barren  of  usefulness,  I  shall  ever  hold  tliis  and  similar 
tributes  among  my  most  cherished  recollections. 

To  these  my  sincere  and  gratet'ul  acknowledgments  1  desire  to  add, 
that  tlie  same  motives  whicli  induced  me  several  years  ago  to  retire 
from  public  life,  and  which  since  that  time  have  controlled  my  judgment 
in  this  respect,  now  impel  me  to  say,  that  the  use  of  my  name,  in  any 
event,  before  the  Democratic  National  Convention  at  Baltimore,  to  which 
you  are  a  delegate,  would  be  utterly  repugnant  to  my  tastes  and  wishes. 
I  am,  with  the  highest  respect  and  esteem,  your  friend, 

FRANK.  PIERCE. 

Hon.  Chas.  G.  Atherton,  Nashville,  N.  H. 

The  last  letter  of  General  Pierce  before  the  meeting  of  the  National 
Convention  was  the  following,  addressed  to  Colonel  Lally,  of  New 
Hampshire  : 

Teemont  House,  Boston,  May  27,  1852. 

w  W  W  W  W  *  iff  W 

I  intended  to  speak  to  you  more  fully  upon  the  subject  of  the  Coinpro- 
mise  measures  than  I  had  an  opportunity  to  do.  The  importance  of  the 
action  of  the  convention  upon  this  question  cannot  be  over-estimated.  I 
believe  there  will  be  no  disposition  on  the  part  of  the  South  to  piess  reso- 


30 

lutiotis  xinnecessarily  offensive  to  the  sentiments  of  the  North.  But  can 
we  say  as  much  on  our  side?  Will  the  North  come  cheerfully  up  to  the 
mark  of  constitutional  right?  If  not,  a  breach  in  our  party  is  inevitable. 
The  matter  should  be  met  at  the  threshold,  because  it  rises  above  party, 
and  looks  at  the  very  existence  of  the  coufederacy. 

The  sentiment  of  no  one  State  is  to  be  regarded  upon  this  subject;  but 
having  fought  the  battle  in  New  Hampshire  upon  the  fugitive-slave  law, 
and  upon  what  we  believed  to  be  the  ground  of  constitutional  right,  we 
should,  of  course,  desire  the  approval  of  the  democracy  of  the  counliy. 
What  I  wish  to  say  to  you  is  this  :  If  the  Compromise  measures  ate  not  to 
be  substantially  and  firmly  maintained,  the  plain  rights  secured  by  the 
Constitution  will  be  trampled  in  the  dust.  What  difference  can  it  make 
to  you  or  me,  whether  the  outrage  shall  seem  to  fall  on  South  Carolina, 
or  Maine,  or  New  Hampshire?  Are  not  the  rights  of  each  eqiially  dear  to 
us  all?  I  will  never  yield  to  a  craven  spirit,  that,  from  considerations  of 
policy,  would  endanger  the  Union.  Entertaining  these  views,  the  action 
of  the  convention  must,  in  my  judgment,  be  vital.  If  we  of  the  North, 
who  have  stood  by  the  constitutional  rights  of  the  South,  are  to  be  aban- 
doned to  any  time-serving  policy,  the  hopes  of  democracy  and  of  the 
Union  must  sink  together.  As  1  told  you,  my  name  will  not  be  before 
the  convention  ;  but  I  cannot  help  feeling  that  what  there  is  to  be  done 
will  be  important  beyond  men  and  parties — transecndently  important  to 
the  hopes  of  democratic  progress  and  civil  liberty.     Your  friend, 

FRANK.  PIERCE. 

Notwithstanding  General  Pierce's  repeated  declinations  of  the  great 
honor  of  a  nomination  for  the  presidency,  yet  this  was  destined  to  fall  to 
liis  lot.  His  name  had  been  presented  not  only  by  New  Hampshire,  but 
by  presses  and  statesmen  in  other  parts  of  the  Union,  previous  to  the  BA- 
timore  Democratic  National  Convention.  This  body  was  one  of  the  most 
able  and  patriotic  representations  of  the  party  that  evtr  assembled  in 
council.  When  it  was  found  that  neither  of  the  distinguished  statesmen 
whose  names  had  been  brought  into  the  convention  could  receive  the 
nomination,  and  that  the  coumion  sacrifice  of  preferences  would  be  re- 
quired by  the  friends  of  all,  then  the  high  character,  distinguished  ser- 
vices, and  acknowledged  qualifications  of  General  Pierce  pointed  him  out 
as  a  tit  candidate  for  the  great  American  office  which  ought  neither  to  be 
sought  nor  declined.  Virginia,  the  mother  of  States  and  the  birthplace 
of  the  Father  of  Democracy,  first  gave  her  vote  for  General  I'ierce.  Other 
States  followed.  And  the  nomination  was  made  amidst  an  enthusiasm 
which  has  been  rarely  equalled  and  which  could  not  be  surpassed.  It 
was  made  not  only  in  a  spirit  of  wise  statesmanship  but  of  compromise, 
conciliation  and  union.  It  was  thus  that  this  true  and  modest  son  of  the 
Granite  State  was  made  the  standard-bearer  of  the  national  democratic 
party. 

The  convention  appointed  a  committee  consisting  of  Colonel  Barbour, 
of  Virginia,  Hon  J.  Thompson,  of  Mississippi,  Hon.  Alplieus  Felch,  of 
Michigan,  and  Hon.  P.  Sonle,  of  Louisiana,  to  acquaint  General  Pierce 
of  his  nomination.  This  ccmimittee  waited  on  the  General  at  his  resi- 
dence in  Concord,  New  Hampshire,  and  deUvered  to  him  the  following 
letter: 


31 

Concord,  June  17,  1832, 

Sir:  A  National  Coiu'ention  of  the  democratic  republican  party,  which 
met  in  Baltimore  the  first  Tuesday  in  June,  unanimously  noniiuated  you 
as  a  candidate  for  the  high  trust  of  President  of  the  United  States.  We 
have  been  delegated  to  acquaint  jrou  with  Vhe  nomination,  and  earnestly 
to  request  that  you  will  accept  it.  Persuaded  as  we  are  that  this  office 
should  not  he  pursued  by  an  unchastened  ambition,  it  can  never  be 
refused  by  a  dutiful  patriotism. 

The  circumstances  under  which  you  Avill  be  presented  for  the  canvass 
of  ycur  countrymen  are  pinjiitious  to  the  interests  which  the  constitu- 
tion intrusts  to  our  federal  Union,  and  must  be  auspicious  to  your  own 
fame.  You  come  before  the  people  without  the  impulse  of  personal  wishes, 
and  free  from  all  selfisli  expectations.  You  are  identified  with  none 
of  the  distractions  which  haye  recently  disturbed  onr  country,  whilst  you 
are  known  to  be  faithful  to  the  constitution,  to  all  its  guarantees  and  com- 
promises. You  will  be  free  to  exert  your  tried  abilities  within  the  path 
of  duty  in  protecting  that  repose  we  happily  enjoy,  and  in  giving  efficacy 
and  control  to  those  cardinal  priuciples  that  have  already  illustrated  the 
party  which  has  selected  you  as  its  leader — principles  that  regard  the 
security  and  prosperity  of  the  whole  country  and  the  paramouut  power 
of  its  laws  as  iudissolubly  asscciated  with  the  perpetuity  of  our  civil  and 
religious  liberties. 

The  convention  did  not  pretermit  the  duty  of  reiterating  those  princi- 
pies,  and  yon  will  find  them  prominently  set  forth  in  the  resolutioiis  it 
adopted.     To  these  we  respectfully  invite  your  attention. 

It  is  firmly  believed  that  to  your  talents  and  patriotism  the  secu- 
rity of  our  holy  Union,  with  its  expanded  and  expanding  interests,  may 
be  wisely  trusted,  and  that,  amid  all  the  perils  which  may  assail  the  cou- 
stiiution,  you  will  have  the  heart  to  love  and  the  arm  to  defend  it. 

With  congratulations  to  you  and  the  country  upon  this  demonstration 
of  its  exalted  regard,  and  the  patriot  hopes  that  cluster  over  it,  we  have 
the  honor  to  be,  with  all  respect,  your  fellow-citizens, 

J.  S.  BARBOUR, 
J.  THOMPSON, 
ALPHEUS  FELCH, 
PIERRE  SOULE. 

Hon.  Franiclin  Pierci;,  of  New  Hampshire. 

To  this  beautiful  and  appropriate  letter,  Cieneral  Pierce  made  the  fol- 
lowing admirable  reply: 

Concord,  N.  H.,  June  17,  1S.52. 

Gentlemen:  I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  your  personal  kinduess 
in  presenting  to  me  this  day  your  letter  officially  informing  me  of  my 
nomination  by  the  Democratic  National  Convenlion  as  a  candidate  Ibr 
the  presidency  of  the  United  States. 

The  surprise  with  which  I  received  the  intelligence  of  the  nomination 
was  not  uumingled  with  painful  solicitude,  and  yet  it  is  proper  for  me  to 
say  that  the  manner  in  wliich  it  was  conferred  was  peculiarly  gratifying. 
The  delegation  from  New  Hampshire,  with  all  the  glow  of  State  pride 
and  all  the  warmth  of  personal  regard,  would  not  have  submitted  niy 
name  to  the  convention,  nor  would  they  have  cast  a  vote  for  me,  under 
circumstances  other  than  those  which  occurred. 


I  shall  always  cherish  with  pride  and  gratitude  the  recollection  of  the 
fact  that  the  voice  which  first  pronounced  for  me,  and  pronounced  alone, 
came  from  the  mother  of  States — a  pride  and  gratitude  rising  far  above 
an}''  consequences  that  can  betide  me  personally. 

May  I  not  regard  it  as  a  fact  pointing  to  the  overthrow  of  sectional 
jealousies,  and  looking  to  the  perennial  life  and  vigor  of  a  Union  cemented 
by  the  blood  of  tliose  wiio  have  passed  to  their  reward — a  Union  wonder- 
ful in  its  formation,  boundless  in  its  hopes,  amazing  in  its  destiny  !  I 
accept  the  nomination,  relying  upon  an  abiding  devotion  to  the  interests, 
the  honor,  and  the  glory  of  our  whole  country,  but,  beyond  and  above 
all,  upon  a  Power  superior  to  ail  human  might^ — a  Power  which,  from 
the  first  gun  of  the  Revolution,  in  every  crisis  through  which  we  have 
passed,  in  every  hour  of  our  acknowledged  peril,  when  the  dark  clouds 
have  shut  down  around  us,  has  interposed  as  if  to  baffle  human  wisdom, 
outniarch  human  forecast,  and  bring  out  of  darkness  the  rainbow  of 
promise.  Weak  myself,  faith  and  hope  repose  there  in  security.  I  ac- 
cept the  nomination  upon  the  platform  adopted  by  the  convention,  not 
because  this  is  expected  of  me  as  a  candidate,  but  because  the  principles 
it  embraces  command  the  approbation  of  my  judgment;  and  with  them  1 
believe  I  can  safely  say  there  has  been  no  word  nor  act  of  my  life  in 
contiict.  . 

I  have  only  to  tender  my  grateful  ackHowledgments  to  you,  gentlemen, 
to  the  convention  of  which  you  were  members,  and  to  the  people  of  our 
common  country. 

I  anij  with  the  highest  respect,  your  most  obedient  servant, 

FRANK.  PIERCE. 
Hon.  J.  S.  Barbour, 

J.  Thompson, 

Alpheus  Felch, 

Pierre  Soule. 

The  above  imperfect  sketch  will  serve  to  recall  the  principal  points  of 
the  career  of  Franklin  Pierce.  Since  the  death  of  Levi  Woodbury,  he 
has  stood  foremost  in  the  ranks  of  the  democracy  of  New  England.  He 
attained  this  position  by  an  able,  open,  steadfast  adherence  to  principle; 
by  proving  himself  more  than  equal  to  every  station  he  has  occupied;  by 
serving  his  native  State  with  reputation  in  the  halls  of  legislation,  and  his 
country  with  gallantry  and  a  spirit  of  self-sacrifice  on  the  fields  of  battle; 
by  proving  himself  to  be  a  thorough  and  consistent  republican,  a  judicious 
legislator,  and  a  true  friend  to  the  constitution  of  his  country.  He  now 
stands  before  the  nation  as  the  embodiment  of  the  nationality  of  the  great 
party  by  whom  he  is  supported.  He  bears  about  him  in  his  own  past 
brilliant  career,  in  the  antecedents  of  the  democratic  party,  and  in  the 
enthusiastic  action  of  its  representatives  in  convention,  a  pledge,  if  elected, 
to  uphold  unfalteringly  the  great  American  cause  of  the  Union,  the  CoN- 
STiTUTUiN,  and  the  Laws;  and  on  this  grand  basis  to  speed  on  the  couu- 
try  in  its  destined  career  of  freedom  and  progress. 


WILLIAM  R.  KING. 


William  Rufus  Kin'g  is  a  native  of  North  Carolina.  He  vas  born  on 
the  7th  of  April,  17S6.  His  father,  William  King,  was  oie  of  three 
brothers,  whose  ancestor  on  the  paternal  side,  coming  from  tie  north  of 
Ireland,  settled  at,  an  early  day  on  James  river,  in  the  colony  (f  Virginia. 
Their  mother  was  descended  from  a  Hngnenot  family  whici  had  been 
driven  from  France  by  the  revocation  of  the  edict  of  Nantes. 

At  the  time  of  the  Revolniion  the  grandtaiher  was  too  agec  and  infirm 
to  participate  in  that  ardnous  struggle;  bnt  he  and  his  three  sons  were 
zealons  and  devoted  whigs,  (when  that  term  meant  something,)  and  the 
latter  did  good  nnd  effective  service  in  the  glorious  cause,  'i'he  eldest 
brother  commanded  a  company  of  State  troops,  the  youngest  held  a  cap- 
tain's commission  in  the  continental  army,  and  William,  the  father  of 
Colonel  King,  took  his  position  in  the  State  line  as  a  common  soldier,  by 
the  side  of  some  of  the  best  and  most  patriotic  men  in  the  State.  During 
the  whole  revolutionary  war  North  Carolina  was  figluing-gronnd;  and 
whether  grappling  with  the  tories  or  engaged  with  the  myrmidons  of 
Britain,  none  made  greater  sacrifices  or  met  more  dangers  than  did  the 
gallant  family  of  Kings. 

The  war  over  and  independence  secured,  the  father  of  the  subject  of 
our  sketch,  a  planter  in  independent  circumstances,  devo.ted  himself  to 
the  rearing  and  education  of  his  children.  At  the  early  age  of  twelve 
years  William  R.  King  was  sent  to  the  University  of  North  Carolina,  at 
Chapel  Hill.  On  leaving  that  institution,  where  his  attention  to  his 
studies,  and  uniformly  correct  and  gentlemanly  deportment,  had  com- 
manded the  respect  and  regard  of  his  fellows  and  the  approbation  of  the 
professors,  he  entered  the  law  office  of  William  Duffy,  a  distinguished 
lawyer,  residing  in  the  town  of  Fayetteville,  North  Carolina,  and  in  the 
aiuumn  of  1805  obtained  a  license  to  practise  in  the  superior  courts  of  the 
State.  In  1806  he  was  elected  aiiiember  of  the  legislature  of  the  State 
from  the  county  of  Sampson,  in  which  he  was  born.  He  was  again 
elected  the  year  following;  but,  on  the  meeting  of  the  legislature,  he  was 
chosen  solicitor  by  that  body,  and  resigned  his  seat.  Colonel  King  con- 
tinued in  the  practice  of  his  profession  until  he  was  elected  a  member  of 
Congress  from  the  Wilmington  district,  in  August,  1810,  when  he  was 
but  liitlc  more  than  twenty-four  years  of  age;  but,  as  his  predecessor's 
term  did  not  expire  before  the  4th  of  March,  181 1 ,  Colonel  King  did  not 
take  his  scat  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  until  the  autumn  of 
that  year,  being  the  first  session  of  the  twelfth  Congress.  This  was  a 
most  imporiant  period  in  the  history  of  the  country.  The  governments 
of  England  and  France  had  for  years  rivalled  each  other  in  acts  destructive 
of  the  neutral  rights,  and  ruinous  to  the  commerce  of  the  United  States. 
Every  effort  had  been  made — but  in  vain — to  procure  an  abandonment  of 
orders  in  council  on  the  one  hand,  and  decrees  on  the  other,  which  had 
nearly  cut  up  the  commerce  of  the  country  by  the  roots,  and  a  large  ma- 
jority of  the  people  felt  that  to  submit  longer  to  such  gross  violations  of 
3 


34 

their  rigl^s  as  a  neutral  nation  would  be  degrading,  and  they  called  upon 
the  goveijiment  to  protect  those  rights,  eveu  at  the  hazard  of  a  war.     In 
this  statelof  things  Colonel  King  took  his  seat  in  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentative^ and  unhesitatingly  ranged  himself  on  the  side  of  the  bold  and 
patriotic  ^irits  in  that  body  who   had  determined  to  repel  aggression, 
come  froniwhat  quarter  it  might,  and  to  maintain  the  rights  and  the  honor 
of  the  cointry.     Tlie  withdrawal  of  the  Berlin  and  Milan  decrees  by 
Prance,  wiiile  England  refused  to  abandon  her  orders  in  council,  put  an 
end  to  all  iesitation  as  to  which  of  those  powers  should  be  met  in  deadly 
strife.     InJune,  1812,  war  was  declared  against  England,  Mr.  King  ad- 
vocating md  voting  for  the  declaration.     He  continued  to  represent  his 
district  in  Congress  during  the  continuance  of  the  war,  sustaining  with 
all  his  power  every  measure  deemed  necessary  to  enable  the  government 
to  prosecute  it  to  a  successful  termination;  and  not  until  the  rights  of  the 
country  ws'e  vindicated  and  secured,  and  peace  restored  to  the  land,  did 
he  feel  at  liberty  to  relinquish  the  highly  responsible  position  in  which 
his  confidiig  constituents  had  placed  him.     In  the  spring  of  1816  Colonel 
King  resigned  his  seat  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  and  accompanied 
William  Pinckney.  of  Maryland,  as  secretary  of  legation,  first  to  Naples, 
and  then  to  St.  Petersburg,  to  which  courts  Mr.  Pinckney  had  been  ap- 
pointed  minister  plenipotentiary.     Colonel    King  remained   abroad    not 
quite  two  years,  having  in  that  time  visited  the  greater  portion  of  Europe, 
making  himself  acquainted  with  the  institutions  of  various  governments, 
and  the  condition  of  their  people.     On  his  return  to  the  United  States  he 
determined  to  move  to  the  Territory  of  Alabama,  which  determination  he 
carried  into  effect  in  the  winter  of  1818-'19,  and  fi.xed  his  residence  in 
the  county  of  Dallas,  where  he  still  resides.     A  few  months  after  Colonel 
King  arrived  in  the  Territory — Congress  having  authorized  the  people  to 
form  a  constitution  and  establish  a  State  government — he  was  elected  a 
member  of  the  convention.     Colonel  King  was  an  active,  talented,  and 
influential  member  of  that  body,  was  placed  on  the  connnittee  ajipointed 
to  draught  a  constitution,  and  was  also  selected  by  tiie  general  committee, 
together  with  Judge  Taylor,  now  of  the  State  of  Mississippi,  and  Judge 
Henry  Hitchcock — now  no  more — to  reduce  it  to  form,  in  accordance 
with  the  principles  and  provisions  previously  agreed  on.     This  duty  they 
performed  in  a  manner  satisfactory  to' the  committee.     The  constitution 
thus  prepared  was  submitted  to  the  convention,  and  adopted  with  but 
slight  alterations. 

On  the  adjournment  of  the  convention  Colonel  King  returned  to  his 
former  residence  in  North  Carolina,  where  most  of  his  property  still  was, 
and,  having  made  his  arrangements  for  its  removal,  set  out  on  his  return 
for  Alabama.  On  reaching  Milledgeville,  in  the  State  of  Georgia,  he  re- 
ceived a  letter  from  Governor  Bibb,  of  Alabama,  informing  him  that  he 
had  been  elected  a  senator  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  and  that 
the  certificate  of  his  election  had  been  transmitted  to  the  city  of  Washing- 
ton. This  was  the  first  intimation  which  Colonel  King  had  that  his 
name  even  had  been  presented  to  the  legislature  for  tiiat  high  position; 
and  injuriously  as  it  would  atl'ect  his  private  interests — in  the  then  condi- 
tion of  bis  affairs — he  did  not  liesilate  to  accept  the  honor  so  unexpectedly 
conferred  upon  him,  and,  leavit]g  his  people  to  pursue  their  way  to  Ala- 
bama, he  retraced  his  steps,  and  reached  the  city  of  Washington  a  few 
days  before  the  meeting  of  Congress.  His  colleague,  the  Hon.  John  W. 
Walker,  had  arrived  before  him. 


.;  : :  i    C'  c.  J  u 

35 

Alabama  was  admitted  as  a  State,  and  her  senators,  after  taking  tiie 
oath  to  support  the  constitution  of  the  United  Spates,  were  required  to 
draw  for  their  term  of  service,  when  Major  Wallcer  drew  six  years  and 
Colonel  King  four.  At  the  time  that  Alahama  became  a  State  of  the 
Union  tlie  indebtedness  of  her  citizens  fur  lands  sold  by  the  United 
States,  under  what  was  known  as  the  credit  system,  was  nearly  twelve 
millions  of  dollars.  It  Avas  perfectly  apparent  that  this  enormous  sum 
could  not  be  paid,  and  that  an  attempt  to  enforce  the  payment  could  only 
result  in  ruin  to  her  people.  Congress  became  satisfied  that  the  mode 
heretofore  adopted  for  the  disposal  of  the  public  domain  was  wrong,  and 
a  law  was  passed  reducing  the  minimum  price  from  two  to  one  dollar  and 
twenty-five  cents  the  acre,  with  cash  payments.  This  change  was 
warmly  advocated  by  senators  Walker  and  King 

At  the  next  session  a  law  was  passed  authorizing  the  purchasers  of 
public  laiuls,  under  the  credit  system,  to  relinquish  to  the  government  a 
portion  of  their  purchase,  and  to  transfer  the  amount  paid  on  the  part  re- 
lintiuished,  so  as  to  make  complete  payment  on  the  part  retained.  At  a 
subsequent  session  another  law  was  passed,  authorizing  the  original  pur- 
chasers of  the  lands  so  relinquished  to  enter  them  at  a  fixed  rate,  much 
below  the  price  at  which  they  had  been  originally  sold.  To  the  exertions 
of  senators  King  and  Walker,  Alabama  is  mainly  indebted  for  the  passage 
of  these  laws,  which  freed  her  citizens  from  the  heavy  debt  which  threat- 
ened to  overwhelm  them  with  ruin, and  also  enabled  them  to  secure  their 
possessions  upon  reasonable  terms. 

Colonel  King  was  elected  a  senator  in  182.3,  in  1828,  in  1834,  and  in 
1840.  His  firm  but  conciliatory  course  insured  for  him  the  respect  and 
confidence  of  the  Senate,  and  he  was  repeatedly  chosen  to  preside  over 
that  body  as  President  pro  tc?n.,  the  duties  of  which  posilion  he  dis- 
charged in  a  manner  so  satisfactory,  that  at  the  close  of  each  session  a 
resolution  was  adopted,  without  a  dissenting  voice,  tendering  him  the 
thanks  of  the  body  for  the  ability  and  impartiality  with  which  he  had 
•  discharged  those  duties.  In  the  spring  of  1844  Colonel  King  was  offered 
the  situation  of  minister  to  France,  which  he  declined,  as  he  had,  on 
previous  occasions,  refused  to  accept  other  diplomatic  situations  which 
liad  been  tendered  to  him,  preferring,  as  he  declared,  to  be  a  senator  from 
Alabama  to  any  office  which  could  be  conferred  on  him  by  the  general 
government.  At  this  time  the  proposition  for  the  annexatiun  of  Texas 
was  pen  ling,  and  there  was  but  too  much  reason  to  believe  that  the 
British  government  was  urging  that  of  France  to  unite  with  her  in  a 
protest  against  such  annexation.  It  was,  therefore,  of  the  highest  im- 
portance to  prevent,  if  possible,  such  joint  protest  as,  should  it  be  made, 
must  have  inevitably  resulted  in  producing  hostilities  with  one  or  both  of 
tliese  powers  ;  for  no  one  for  a  moment  believed  tliat  the  government  of 
the  United  States  would  be  deterred  from  carrying  out  a  measure  which 
she  considered  essential  to  her  interests,  from  any  apprehension  of  conse- 
quences wiiich  might  result  from  any  combination  of  the  powers  of 
Europe.  Colonel  King  was  a  decided  advocate  of  the  annexation  of 
'JVxas  ;  and  when  urged  by  the  President  and  many  of  his  friends  in 
Congress  to  accept  the  mission,  he  consented,  under  th^e  circumstances, 
to  give  up  his  seat  in  the  Senate.  Colonel  King,  feeling  the  import- 
ance of  prompt  action,  did  not  even  return  to  his  home  to  arrange  his  pri- 
vate afl'airs,  but  repaired  at  once  to  New  York  and  took  passage  for 


UCSB   LIBKAHY.  y-^^Q^^^ 

36 

Havre.  Arriving  in  Paris,  he  obtained  an  audience  of  the  King,  pre- 
sented his  credentials^nd  at  once  entered  upon  the  object  of  his  mission. 
After  frequent  conferences  with  the  King  of  the  French,  who  had  l<indly 
consented  that  he  migtit  discuss  the  subject  v/iXh.  hiin,  without  going 
through  the  usual  routine  of  communicating  throngh  the  Foreign  OtRce, 
Colonel  King  succeeded  in  convincing  his  Majesty  that  the  contemplated 
protest,  while  it  would  not  arrest  the  proposed  annexation,  would  en- 
gender on  the  minds  of  the  American  people  a  feeling  of  hostility  towards, 
France,  which  would  operate  most  injuriously  to  t!ie  interests  of  both 
countries,  now  united  by  the  closest  bonds  of  friendship  ;  and  his  Majesty 
ultimately  declared  that  "  he  would  do  notliing  hostile  to  the  United 
St-.tes,  or  which  could  give  to  her  just  cause  of  offence."  The  desired 
object  was'  accomplished.  England  was  not  in  a  condition  to  act  alone, 
and  all  idea  of  a  protest  was  abandoned.  Colonel  King  remained  in- 
France  until  the  autumn  of  1846,  dispensing  a  liberal  hospitality  to  his 
countrymen  and  others,  and  receiving  from  those  connected  with  the 
government,  and  a  large  circle  of  the  most  distinguished  individuals  in 
Paris,  the  kindest  attention.  He  returned  to  the  United  States  in  No- 
vember, 1846,  having  requested  and  obtained  the  permission  of  the  Presi- 
dent to  resign  his  office.  '  • 
Jj^.In  1848  the  Hon.  Arthur  P.  Bagby  was  appointed  minister  plenipoten- 
tiary to  Russia,  and  resigned  his  seat  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States. 
Colonel  King  was  appointed  by  the  governor  of  Alabatna  to  fill  the  va- 
cancy thus  created;  and  in  1849 — the  term  for  which  he  was  appointed 
having  expired — he  was  elected  by  the  legislature  for  a  full  term  of  six 
years.  In  1850,  on  the  death  of  General  Taylor,  the  President  of  the 
United  States,  Mr.  Fillmore,  the  Vice  President,  succeeded  to  that  high 
otllcc,  and  Colonel  King  was  chosen  by  the  unanimous  vote  of  the  Senate 
President  of  that  body,  which  places  him  in  the  second  higliest  office  in 
the  govornment.  Colonel  King  has  ever  been  a  decided  republican  of 
the  Jefi'ersonian  school.  He  has,  during  his  whole  political  life,  opposed 
the  exercise  of  implied  powers  on  the  part  of  the  general  govermnent," 
unless  palpably  and  plainly  necessary  to  carry  into  efl'ect  an  expressly 
granted  power — firmly  impressed  with  the  belief,  as  he  has  often  declared, 
that  the  security  and  harmony,  if  notthe  very  existence,  of  the  federal 
govenmient,  was  involved  in  adhering  to  a  strict  construction  of  the  con- 
stitution. 

In  all  the  relations  of  life  Colonel  King  has  maintained  a  spotless  repu- 
tation. His  frank  and  confiding  disposition,  his  uniform  courtesy  and 
kindness,  have  endeared  him  to  numerous  friends,  and  commanded  for 
him  the  respect  and  confidence  of  all  who  have  had  the  pleasure  of  his 
acquaintance. 

Colonel  King  is  about  six  feet  high,  remarkably  erect  in  figure,  and 
is  well  proportioned.  Brave  and  chivalrous  in  character,  his  whole 
bearing  impresses  even  strangers  with  the  conviction  that  they  are  in  the 
presence  of  a  finished  gentleman.  His  fine  colloquial  powers,  and  the 
varied  and  extensive  information  which  he  possesses,  render  him  a  most 
interesting  companion. 


